Committee to review Waterford fire services
Fallout from deletion of Cohanzie Instagram account prompted ‘a lot of questions’
Waterford — The town’s Public Protection and Safety Committee plans to conduct an extensive review of the way Waterford manages fire and emergency medical services.
In a letter to the 22-member Representative Town Meeting this week, Republicans Tim Condon and Mike Perkins called for the review, in part because constituents had voiced “concerns regarding response times, equipment and a well-defined chain of command.”
The RTM voted to send the matter to the committee, which will meet with staff from all five fire departments, fire union representatives, a range of town officials and the Waterford Ambulance Service, a nonprofit serving the town’s five EMS districts.
“We are currently at a turning point in town in which this charge has the potential to save taxpayers ... tens of millions of dollars, as well as improving the safety of the public, and possibly saving lives,” the letter states.
The committee wants to review response times; staffing requirements and procedures for both paid employees and volunteers; fleet and equipment management; the number and locations of current firehouses; purchasing and costs; and overall procedural and operational effectiveness.
Officials said the committee, which will provide recommendations to the RTM, has not yet scheduled its next meeting.
“It’s healthy every now and then to peek under the hood and see how things are running,” Condon said in an interview Friday. He added that
“It’s healthy every now and then to peek under the hood and see how things are running.” TIM CONDON, WATERFORD RTM MEMBER
an article published by The Day about the fallout after Cohanzie Fire Co.’s Instagram account was deleted prompted “a lot of questions” including about “the whole system in its entirety.”
First Selectman Dan Steward said it was not necessarily “a new idea to study fire services,” and added the town “continues to try to find ways to make fire service a better entity.”
“I want my firefighters, whether volunteer or paid, to have a safe operation,” Steward said Friday. “Anything less than that is unacceptable.”
Condon’s and Perkins’ letter suggested officials should suspend orders of fire apparatuses until the review is completed and hold off on “any further action of the Oswegatchie Firehouse Building Committee until a needs-based review of numbers and locations of existing firehouses has been completed.”
But Steward noted the RTM only voted to conduct the fire services review — not to suspend potential repairs to the firehouse, or to stall an already ordered firetruck being manufactured for Oswegatchie.
Matthew Carson, chief of Quaker Hill Fire Co. for the last dozen years, said he was aware there are “some concerns with some of the fire services, ambulances and apparatus having difficulty getting out at night.”
He said at Quaker Hill, “once in a great while, we have to have another company come in and help us out. But we cover our own pretty good. I look forward to the committee getting together and seeing what suggestions they have. We’re always willing to work with other companies and the town.”
Condon said the review would be open, transparent and constructive, as opposed to adversarial.
“You see Ledyard doing the same thing right now, and East Lyme has had a fire study done,” he said, noting it would not be a quick process. “Anytime you talk about emergency services, an important service, it takes time. It’s better to slow things down and make sure everybody’s heard.”