Published: 06:37 p.m., Friday, November 5, 2010
Most places that have fire departments that are part-volunteer, part-professional experience some battling between the factions. Greenwich has had its problems, just like the rest of them.
It's incumbent upon all involved to avoid a flare-up as the Greenwich Fire Department renovates its central headquarters.
The station could be shut down for asbestos abatement as early as April. Firefighters from central are expected to be displaced for at least three years. A temporary home also will have to be found for the station's equipment, including its trucks.
Officials say plans are still fluid, but they appear to be leaning toward making significant use of the Cos Cob fire station, both to house men and central's large ladder truck.
Already we're starting to hear rumblings about problems the plan would cause. Volunteer companies that use the station raise safety concerns, that response times to the region protected by central would be too slow from Cos Cob.
Citizens' safety and property protection must be the most important considerations in any plan.
But there have also been protests that housing paid firefighters in Cos Cob would crowd the volunteers and create conflicts.
To comment on that, we defer to RTM Moderator Pro Tempore Joan Caldwell, who says it better than we could hope to:
"Grow up, boys," she said. "We're one firefighting service in this town, and the volunteers and career (firefighters) need to work toward a common goal of saving lives and property. If they can't, then somebody needs to go."
We don't know what the best plan is for dealing with central firefighters and equipment displaced by the renovation project. But we do suspect that it will involve discomfort, perhaps even conflicts of interests, on the part of paid and volunteer firefighters alike.
Best if everyone accepts that going in. Safety and protection should drive this process. Nothing else.
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