By Jeff Morganteen, Staff Writer
Posted: 12/07/2008 02:39:37 AM EST
STAMFORD - A consulting firm hired by the city to study firefighting in Stamford called the current situation among the six fire departments "critical" and recommended city officials declare the fire service is in an "emergency situation."
In a draft of the study released last week by TriData, a division of System Planning Corp. of Arlington, Va., relations within the fire prevention system in Stamford, in which six independent fire departments share firefighting duties, were reported to have reached a boiling point because of the lack of a central authority, mistrust issues between the city and volunteer firefighters and a decreasing pool of volunteers.
It called the fire service "a fractured system where each organization essentially prides itself on its individuality." Among dozens of recommendations, some general and others more technical, the most pressing proposal would change the organizational structure of the career and volunteer fire systems in Stamford.
For that to happen, however, changes would be needed in the city Charter, the central document that grants the volunteer departments taxpayer money and autonomy to control firefighting in their districts. In the past 10 years, attempts to change the Charter have failed to gain a necessary two-thirds vote in the Board of Representatives.
The report also suggests that Mayor Dannel Malloy and public safety officials conduct a concerted public education effort to explain to the Board of Representatives and
public about the need for a unified city fire department through changing the city Charter.
Director of Public Safety William Callion said the study will be circulated among public safety personnel, career and volunteer fire officials and elected officials. Callion said the study cost $131,669 and took seven months to complete.
"They need to get their arms around the gravity of the situation," Callion said. "Here are the findings."
Firefighting in Stamford is handled by one career department, which covers the downtown area and the Big 5 volunteer firehouses, which cover their districts in various neighborhoods.
The report said the city's fire service, career and volunteer, should be unified under the command of a single professional fire chief. As it operates now, fire coverage is split among six separate chiefs in six separate districts, the report said.
The city lacks a centralized agency authorized to control fire protection in the city, the report said.
The Big 5 volunteer departments answer to the city Office of Public Safety, Health and Welfare, but the public safety director has limited powers over the volunteer chiefs.
Under a organizational structure proposed in the report, the volunteer liaison would report directly to the chief of Stamford Fire & Rescue, the career department that traditionally covers downtown Stamford. The Stamford Fire & Rescue chief reports to the public safety director.
"It's time for this to be done," Stamford Fire & Rescue Chief Robert McGrath said. "If everyone works together, we can put together a very comprehensive fire department."
The study said the situation between the six fire departments and the city has simmered for so long it has caused serious mistrust among city officials and four of the five volunteer chiefs.
In 2007, the city attempted to consolidate the career department, Stamford Fire & Rescue, with three of the Big 5 departments. One volunteer department went along with the plan. The other two have pending lawsuits against the city, and both are now all-volunteer departments.
In response to the two departments' opposition to the consolidation plan, the city drastically slashed the budgets of the Turn of River Fire Department and Belltown Fire Department. Volunteer fire chiefs have said the consolidation plan and funding cuts violated the city Charter.
A main reason behind the 2007 merger effort was a needed reduction in overtime costs. The fire study reported that the Stamford Fire & Rescue compiled above-average overtime costs. During the 2007-08 fiscal year, the fire department spent $2,261,397 in overtime, according to city fire officials.
With a little more than six months left in the current fiscal year, the department has spent $953,829 in overtime, city fire officials said. McGrath said the fire department has saved money because of different staffing practices that came about after the 2007 merger.
The fire study said the city must do more to recruit and retain volunteer firefighters, described in the report as committed individuals who belong to firehouses steeped in decades of tradition. The Springdale Fire Co., a combination department that was not included in the 2007 merger, dates to 1908.
Turn of River volunteer Chief Frank Jacobellis, whose department has pending lawsuits with the city, said the budget cuts that were made after opposition to the merger were seen as an affront among most volunteers firefighters and have increased mistrust between the city and volunteer departments that provide the city with free labor.
"How are we supposed to take that?" Jacobellis said. "It's a slap in the face."
The situation the city faces is not new. The last major fire study was done in 1995 by a consultant commissioned by the city. It concluded that Stamford's system was plagued by understaffed volunteer fire departments. That same situation hurts fire service 13 years later.
That study called for redistributing Stamford Fire & Rescue firefighters to the volunteer departments as a cost-effective way to improve public safety. So far, two of the five volunteer departments are staffed with city firefighters.
- Staff Writer Jeff Morganteen can be reached at jeff.morganteen@scni.com or at 964-2215