Mr. William
Ostapchuk stated the some of the following comments at last night’s common
council meeting: He noted that the fire prevention
association mandates four firemen per truck with its arrival in 120 seconds but
we only have three firemen per truck and the mayor’s budget proposes further
cuts of the force from 35 men to 26 which does not met the fire protection
standards “that determine home cost of insurance”. He also indicated that he was advised by a
public official that the fire department was too large and that maybe a fire
house should be closed.
Alderman Louis Salvio in reputing Mr.
Ostapchuk comments that he wanted the public to know that there is no investigation
of the fire department ongoing and that one should check with the fire chief
before making public statements. Mr.
Ostapchuk had referred to the alderman’s remark of calling him delusional in the
past.
Maybe an
investigation of the city’s fire standards
should be called for without any delay.
A meeting of the minds of the common council
membership delusional or not should occur.
fs
Frank- the facts that were referenced and referred to as MANDATES are in fact RECOMENDATIONS. Look at some other towns in CT, some that are larger and some that have more people and you will see that the overstaffed argument and definitely be made.
ReplyDeleteTHis is bologna. Mayer Stewart negotiated and the Council voted on reducing the number of firemen on a truck from 4 to 3 back in 2011. In return, there were no layoffs and Stewart got his pension upgrade.
ReplyDeleteThere is nothing to investigate here.
Instead of closing a firehouse, why not convert some of the residential areas of the city into a volunteer fire company?
ReplyDeletePerhaps Mayor O'Brien would have been better suited for such a discussion being that his hometown of Manchester has always had about half of the town serviced by a paid town fire dept while the other half of town has always been volunteer.
Middletown also has paid fire service in the downtown areas while other areas of their city are serviced by privately run volunteer fire companies. Meriden also has a large portion of their city serviced by volunteer fire companies. Governor Malloy's hometown of Stamford has 5 volunteer fire companies in a city with twice the population of New Britain. 3 of our neighboring towns also have volunteer fire departments (Newington, Berlin & Farmington) so if it works so well all around us why not pursue such a possibility that would ultimately deliver a cost savings to the taxpayers?
Another interesting note is that the insurance industry makes no distinction between a paid or volunteer service. They only consider the distance to the hydrant and the distance to the firehouse regardless of whether it is a volunteer or paid company.
It does seem better than paying someone $60 an hour to get more sleep than if he was home?
ReplyDeleteKeep electing Democrats so they can keep handing out our money like it grew on trees:
ReplyDeleteStruggling Cities Shut Firehouses in Budget Crisis
By MICHAEL COOPER
Published: August 26, 2010
SAN DIEGO — Fire departments around the nation are cutting jobs, closing firehouses and increasingly resorting to “rolling brownouts” in which they shut different fire companies on different days as the economic downturn forces many cities and towns to make deep cuts that are slowing their responses to fires and other emergencies.
Philadelphia began rolling brownouts this month, joining cities from Baltimore to Sacramento that now shut some units every day. San Jose, Calif., laid off 49 firefighters last month. And Lawrence, Mass., north of Boston, has laid off firefighters and shut down half of its six firehouses, forcing the city to rely on help from neighboring departments each time a fire goes to a second alarm.
Fire chiefs and union officials alike say it is the first time they have seen such deep cuts in so many parts of the country. “I’ve never seen it so widespread,” said Harold A. Schaitberger, the general president of the International Association of Fire Fighters.
The blue ribbon panel appointed to determine whether eight firehouses should be shuttered due to the city's budget crisis has decided to close the stations, officials said Friday. The closings come as the city faces a projected $3.4 billion to $4 billion budget deficit.
ReplyDelete