With budget approved, Preston fire chief gearing up to hire firefighters

Aug. 4--PRESTON -- Fire Chief Tom Casey breathed a sigh of relief when he heard Tuesday's referendum results that approved the 2019-20 town government budget that includes his plan to ensure that Preston has enough paid firefighters/EMTs to respond to emergency calls around the clock.

Casey had made urgent pleas to the Board of Selectmen, Board of Finance and to residents at recent town meetings that the number of trained volunteers in town had dwindled to almost none. Two years ago, on 147 emergency calls, Casey, the full-time paid chief, was the only trained and equipped responder.

Of the $374,639 total increase in the new town budget, $240,779 would be for his planned 200 percent increase in the emergency services budget. The Poquetanuck Ambulance Company will contribute $70,000 in revenues to the town to offset part of that increase.

With Tuesday's approval, Casey will start spreading the word that the town is seeking to hire four part-time per diem firefighter/EMTs immediately to create a schedule of three eight-hour shifts staffed by at least two paid firefighters/EMTs seven days a week. The town pays $18 per hour for per diem firefighters.

He hopes to soon start taking applications for the positions and make hiring decisions shortly after screening applicants.

Preston has been building its paid coverage to this point over the past 12 years, starting when Casey was first hired as the paid chief in charge of the Preston City and Poquetanuck volunteer fire departments.

"We were losing volunteers fairly steadily, while the call volume started to go up," Casey said.

Eight or nine years ago, he recalled, Preston started having emergency calls with no qualified personnel responding. Those became more and more frequent, to the point where the town agreed to hire a full-time daytime firefighter and two per diem part-time firefighters in addition to Casey for the 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. shifts on weekdays.

Poquetanuck Ambulance Co. realized that with more trained responders, the company would earn more revenue through insurance reimbursements. The company contributed funding to hire Friday and Saturday night 10 p.m. to 6 a.m. per diem firefighters/EMTs. That proved successful, so the company added more funding to cover a Sunday overnight shift.

In January 2019, the ambulance company filled another "big hole" with funding for another per diem staffer from 4 p.m. to midnight seven days a week.

Now, Casey said, the gap is that the town has only one paid responder for all hours other than the weekday day shifts, while firefighter training protocol calls for at least two trained responders per call.

Casey now plans to create three eight-hour shifts with at least two trained responders seven days a week. Preston currently has 11 per diem firefighters, and Casey estimated he would need at least four more immediately to fill out the schedule, a fifth if necessary. Each would work about 24 hours a week.

With other towns in southeastern Connecticut facing similar problems, he is a bit concerned that "the labor pool is shrinking." Most per diem firefighters already are career firefighters in local cities and towns with paid departments looking to supplement their incomes with part-time shifts elsewhere.

"I have a lot of respect for them for doing this," Casey said.

c.bessette@theday.com

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