By David Fortier
A request for 16 additional firefighters, to be forwarded to the Board of Finance, was approved by the Board of Fire Commissioners at its meeting Thursday evening in City Council chambers.
The additional staffing would bring Bristol into compliance with national standards, and for the first three years, the salaries, but not benefits, would be covered 100 percent by a newly instituted grant program funded by FEMA which the city appears to qualify, according to Fire Chief Rick Hart.
The request comes one day after the Firehouse 3 Building Committee of the Board of Fire Commissioners approved a request for the city to amend its bonding for the construction of a new firehouse in Forestville.
The new firehouse will be the location of a new ladder truck, which has been purchased and is expected to be delivered sometime in the summer of 2025.
“We are 100 percent not compliant 100 percent of the time,” Hart said earlier today, in a follow-up to last night’s meeting. “With four extra personnel that puts 18 people on scene and the standard requires 17, so we will be 100 percent compliant 100 percent of the time.”
Currently, Bristol has 14 firefighters available for low-hazard events, failing short of the standards. A low-hazard event, fopr instance, might involve a single-family home.
The new ladder truck had been recommended as part of an Insurance Services Offices (ISO) report that was completed early in his tenure. He said when it came to the new firehouse he made sure it was designed with the new truck in mind.
From the moment Hart was hired in 2021, he said, he has become increasingly aware of Bristol’s tenuous situation. In reviewing some of the department’s history he found that as far back as 2014 another report recommended a second ladder truck.
Recommendations aside, a new ladder truck, the city already has one, also helps the city meet the demands of a growing downtown, the chief said.
With all the building that is going on, from the Sessions Building to KindCare to Wheeler to the Carrier Corporation project and another one where the former Mafale’s Plaza had been, a second ladder truck is a necessity.
“Right now we can’t cover the city with one tower ladder,” Hart said. “Thankfully our structure fires have remained pretty flat, but our call volume has gone up as of yesterday 29 percent over last year. So, it’s rough. We can’t be expected to do more with less.”
When first encountering this information, he recalled attending a Board of Fire Commissioners meeting after a fire on Allen Street where a disabled, elderly woman had perished and explaining the gap, how both personnel and a second ladder truck were necessary in this type of situation. To fill the gap, Bristol had to call on Terryville to supplement a second ladder truck.
Another incident on Murray Road, he said, provided a textbook lesson on why the city needed that second ladder truck.
“I had pictures, and I brought the pictures up,” he said, “and I said that damages to this building would have been reduced by a minimum of 50 percent.”
He explained that reducing the damage reduces repair costs for insurance companies and homeowners. In the event a commercial entity is involved, he said, less damage figures into the decision whether to rebuild or to move an operation out of town to a city that has more adequate fire protection services.
In addition, he said, there is the liability for the city, opening it up to lawsuits. If the city is aware that it does not meets standards, this is a problem since a good lawyer will use this information.
“So, I’ve been talking about this for the past couple of years, that we’re not compliant to the nationally recognized standard,” he said. “It’s not a regulation, but it’s a nationally accept standard that we’re noncompliant.”
The finance board and city council have already approved $6.1 million toward a new firehouse, but escalating construction costs pushed the original plan to over $9 million. A compromise at Wednesday’s building committee meeting salvaged the project, bringing the total area down from 10,300 sq. ft. to 8,700 sq. ft., including a third bay.
Under a new grant FEMA grant program, the city would qualify for 100 percent of the salaries of the new firefighters for the first three years, not including benefits, which the city would pick up under the normal budgeting process, Hart said.
The requests are different in that the staffing request would be applied to the normal budget schedule, whereas the request for the new firehouse is most likely bonded.
Hart said he will be talking with the city’s comptroller to discuss how to handle the financing of the additional benefits for new hires when the grant comes through and then how to absorb the new salaries after the program ends. The hiring of staff he anticipated for mid-year 2025, when the new truck would be available.
“By applying for and getting this grant,” he added, “that alleviates that sticker shock to some extent so they know this is coming four years from now so we can plan. So, it’s a good thing because it serves as a budgeting tool as well.”
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