http://www.stamfordadvocate.com/news/local/scn-sa-shortage2sep11,0,4496873.story?coll=stam-news-local-headlines
By Natasha Lee
Staff Writer
September 11, 2007
STAMFORD - On average, less than one Glenbrook volunteer firefighter has responded to emergency calls since the layoff of paid firefighters there, according to the paid firefighters union.
Belltown's volunteer fire department, which lost a third of its paid staff in July, does not fare much better. An average of one Belltown volunteer responds to calls, the union's figures show.
The remaining paid firefighters are left to staff the two volunteer firehouses, sometimes with only one on duty.
Volunteer chiefs have not disputed the union's estimates.
Stamford has five volunteer fire companies that, under the city Charter and agreements with the city, operate independently.
But there are not enough volunteers.
The firehouses are supplemented with paid career firefighters working for the Stamford Fire & Rescue Department, or who work for volunteer companies but are paid by the city.
Belltown Fire Chief John Didelot said volunteers can't carry the load.
"Sometimes we have to make do with what we have," he said.
Yet Didelot and other volunteer chiefs refuse to allow the city to move Stamford Fire & Rescue firefighters into their firehouses, saying they will lose the autonomy given to them under the Charter.
The city and the Belltown and Glenbrook departments have been feuding for five months over how to increase manpower at the two understaffed volunteer firehouses and cut overtime spending.
Belltown and Glenbrook rejected a city proposal to consolidate their firehouses, along with the Turn of River Fire Department, under one labor contract, creating layoffs and costly legal battles.
Belltown and Glenbrook took the city to court to try to reinstate the paid firefighters. Turn of River went to court under similar circumstances and won; the city is appealing.
"I want to have four firemen 24 hours a day in those companies. That's what I want," Mayor Dannel Malloy said. "What they (volunteer fire chiefs) need to do is explain to the citizens of their district why they are safer with fewer people, when they have aptly demonstrated that there are insufficient volunteers to respond.
"The fact is that Stamford Fire & Rescue has been carrying the load for a number of years. If we didn't have Stamford Fire & Rescue, these companies would really be in trouble."
Paid firefighters say public safety is dangling by a thread.
According to numbers provided by the Stamford Professional Fire Fighters Association President Brendan Keatley, who represents paid firefighters in five of the city's six departments, the Belltown fire district received 61 calls from July 11 to July 31, and an average of 1.3 volunteers responded per call.
During the same time, three of the department's seven volunteers had no medical training or expired credentials.
Didelot, the Belltown chief, said the three volunteers were certified as of Sept. 6 and the lapse happened because some were away at college when their training expired and it is difficult to schedule certification classes.
During the same period, Glenbrook responded to 55 calls and an average of 0.72 certified volunteers showed up per call.
Glenbrook Fire Department President Edward Rondano did not return two calls for comment.
Glenbrook now has two paid firefighters working eight-hour shifts and one paid firefighter working a 24-hour shift. The firehouse is down to seven career firefighters after it lost two to a layoff and retirement within the last two months. Fire officials say about three certified volunteers are trying to cover the shifts left empty.
Ted Panagiotopoulos, a Glenbrook paid firefighter and fire marshal, said he's lucky if one volunteer shows up to help. Most of the time he responds to calls alone, he said.
"Who's going to explain it to my family if something happens?" Panagiotopoulos said.
He wrote to Rondano about his concern for both his safety and that of residents.
"I agree with you, a single-man engine is not in anyone's best interest but unfortunately Mayor Malloy and a recent Superior Court judge's ruling do not agree," Rondano wrote back.
Last month, a state Superior Court judge in Stamford ruled against reinstating the five Belltown and Glenbrook firefighters the city laid off to make up for a budget shortfall.
The city laid off the firefighters after Glenbrook and Belltown pulled out of a proposal to merge with Stamford Fire & Rescue.
Career firefighters say residents may not notice the shortage because when they call 911, an engine always arrives. Firefighters have mutual aid agreements that allow the six departments to call each other for help. In some cases, help is sent automatically.
But when firefighters rely on mutual aid, they must wait for help to arrive, Panagiotopoulos said.
How many trained firefighters respond on an engine is crucial when every second counts," he said. "It's difficult for one firefighter to assist a person in cardiac arrest, let alone try to rescue someone from a burning building."
A federal standard requires two equally trained and equipped firefighters at the scene for every two who enter a burning building or other hazardous situation.
"Having one firefighter respond to a call puts everyone at risk," Panagiotopoulos said. "The public needs to understand how much I can do by myself.
"By putting us in this situation, you're almost asking us to sit and watch a situation until additional help arrives. Meanwhile, we're wasting precious minutes needed to rescue someone or attack a fire."
Didelot does not dispute the union's findings. The Belltown firehouse is staffed with two career firefighters working 24-hour shifts, after losing three of its nine paid firefighters.
According to union statistics, most calls that required Belltown to assist other departments generated one to two volunteers, and there was little difference between turnout in the day or at night.
On July 14, a daytime fire in a trailer at King & Low-Heywood Thomas School brought nine volunteers to Belltown firehouse and two to the fire scene.
"I'm not trying to justify the low turnout. The facts are what the facts are, but you need to know the reasons why they happen they way they do," Didelot said.
Belltown volunteers do not respond to calls for assistance unless there is a shortage of paid firefighters, he said. Most calls are false alarms and volunteers don't always respond to those.
Didelot did not provide figures for how many volunteers respond when they are needed.
Keatley said volunteer fire protection is a myth in Stamford.
"They can package it, say what they want. The system is failing and they don't want to be the person at the helm of the ship as it's sinking," Keatley said. "They're only interested in protecting their little clubhouses and using it to fight the city."
City Public Safety Director William Callion said he has answered questions about staffing and volunteer response and would not comment further. He is scheduled to meet with the two departments at the end of the month to discuss the merger again, Callion said.
Keatley said he sent Callion a letter about his findings but did not receive a response.
Copyright © 2007, Southern Connecticut Newspapers, Inc.