By Natasha Lee
Staff Writer
June 30, 2007
STAMFORD - The Belltown Fire Department joined a city plan yesterday to consolidate three volunteer fire companies into Stamford Fire & Rescue, leaving Turn of River Fire Department the last department standing.
City officials said the merger will move Stamford Fire & Rescue firefighters into Belltown and Glenbrook fire departments to improve fire coverage and cut overtime costs generated by the understaffed volunteer departments.
Turn of River filed an injunction against the city blocking five layoffs at its department until a July 9 hearing at state Superior Court in Stamford.
Glenbrook Fire Department agreed to the reorganization Thursday. The volunteer companies receive city funding, but are autonomous under the city Charter and have their own methods of managing and staffing their firehouses.
Threatened with losing three of its nine paid firefighters, Belltown signed a tentative agreement with the city yesterday that must be approved by the department's membership, Belltown Chief John Didelot said.
The union, Stamford Professional Fire Fighters Association Local 786, and the city's Board of Representatives must give final approval.
Didelot will maintain authority over his volunteer staff and the firehouse, and work with Stamford Fire & Rescue Chief Robert McGrath on daily operations and assignments for the paid firefighters. The nine Belltown firefighters, who operate under a separate labor contract, will be honored under the same contract as Stamford Fire & Rescue.
"We will work together as far as what their day-to-day operations are and try to move forward in a cooperative manner," Didelot said.
The plan, announced earlier this month by Mayor Dannel Malloy, is expected to save the city $560,000 next year. No changes are expected at Long Ridge Fire Department, which operates under a separate agreement from the other volunteer companies, and Springdale Fire Company, which is already staffed with 16 Stamford Fire & Rescue firefighters.
Public Safety Director William Callion said he was pleased with Didelot's decision.
"We are going to get consistent, reliable coverage in most of the city and we have averted laying off professional, highly trained firefighters, and I remain prayerful that the other department will reconsider," Callion said.
Turn of River Fire Department attorney Mark Kovack said that decision is in the hands of a judge.
"The court will probably decide whether that order stays in force and if it's modified or amplified," Kovack said.
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