Some came from as far away as Westport, New Britain and Tolland. They wore yellow T-shirts, carried signs that read “Our community, our firefighters 4 safe staffing,” and passed out stickers of the number “4.”

Four is the number of firefighters that City of Groton Fire Department union members say should be required, by contract, for each shift. Their contract, which expired in June, requires three firefighters per shift.

Union president Daniel Tompkins estimates the addition of a fourth firefighter per shift would cost about $50,000 a year.

Union members say their contract, which has been referred to the State Board of Mediation and Arbitration, hinders the ability of firefighters to respond to emergencies, threatening both their safety and the safety of city residents.

Tompkins said federal Occupational Safety and Health Administration regulations require a bare minimum of four: a firefighter must enter a burning house with another firefighter, in addition to two people outside as backup.

That means a shift of three firefighters that responds to a fire either has to wait for aid from volunteers or other departments before going inside, or risk their lives by ignoring safety guidelines.

“If there's life in there, you're going,” said City of Groton firefighter Rick McGuigan. “That's my job.”

“If a person's house is on fire, how am I going to explain I have to wait?” said another city firefighter, Kevin Zoilkovski.

When a department is short-handed, the mentality changes from containing a fire to one room, to hoping firefighters can just contain it within the entire house, he said.

The department has 15 paid firefighters, plus the chief and deputy chief, and also relies on volunteer firefighters to cover both the City of Groton and the West Pleasant Valley Fire District.

Paid firefighters are supposed to man three shifts of five per shift, but Tompkins said that often doesn't happen because of vacation or sick time.

The number of volunteers, meanwhile, has dropped from 32 to 10 in the past 10 years due to increased training requirements, candidates having less time to devote to the job, and a city population of elderly, low-income and working-class residents that doesn't lend itself to volunteerism, said George DeVirgilio, a captain with the Eastern Point volunteer company.

Tompkins said the department's problems were showcased during three house fires in recent months. A fire on Latham Street in November and another on Baker Avenue on New Year's Day resulted in heavy damage to the homes when only a small number of city firefighters could respond.

A Jan. 6 fire on Ramsdell Street, however, happened during a shift change, so both shifts could respond quickly, put out the fire, and save the house, Tompkins said.

“It's a crystal clear picture of what happens when you don't have enough firefighters,” he said.

Tompkins, along with other residents, urged the City Council at its meeting Tuesday night to make the contract change.

Though Mayor Dennis L. Popp maintained he would not negotiate the firefighters' contract in public, he said contract discussions involved more than just staffing.

“Staffing is just one of the issues that they have put on the table,” he said. “This is as much about contract negotiations as it is about safety.”

He said the reality is that serious fires will happen.

“No amount of manpower is going to save those structures if they get out of control,” Popp said.

He named several Groton fire departments that rely on mutual aid and volunteers, pointing out that the Latham Street fire had 38 firefighters respond, Baker Street had 33 and Ramsdell 23.

“Sometimes mutual aid can respond quicker than our own,” he said.

Some shifts have five people and some have four, he said. The reason for a three-man shift is so that “everyone can have the time off they are due,” he said.

Councilor Marian K. Galbraith suggested a committee consider whether the department should undergo an independent safety analysis. Popp said he would refer it to the public safety committee.