Stations run on half-days

Officials say additional levy money is needed to maintain full staffing.

By JOHN W. GOODWIN JR.

VINDICATOR TRUMBULL STAFF

LIBERTY — Firefighters say a lack of funds has forced the department to close each of the township’s fire stations for half a day every day since the middle of last month.

The township has two fire stations — one on Belmont Avenue, the other on Logangate Road. Those stations are usually staffed with a minimum of three firefighters each, but Chief Michael Durkin said a lack of funds and manpower has changed that staffing.

Durkin said the Belmont station has been shut down from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. daily. The Logangate station has been closed in the evenings from 7 p.m. to 7 a.m., he said.

“We are running with two guys off injured and one guy recently retired who will not be replaced, so that is leaving us a little short-handed,” he said. “We get down to three guys on a shift with two stations, and a three-man minimum staffing requirement, so we end up having to shut down one station.”

There are currently 14 full-time firefighters in the department.

Durkin said the department had been operating on two-man shifts at each station with a third man filling in on overtime to meet the minimum staffing requirement, but funding for overtime has run out. Shifts for injured firefighters or firefighters on vacation also were filled with part-time employees.

About part-timers

Cathy Riser, union treasurer, said the department still uses part-time firefighters, but those employees work for several different departments and are not consistently available for scheduling.

Another concern with using part-time employees, she said, is that they can only be used, under contract regulations, when there are three full-time firefighters already on duty.

Durkin said the entire situation poses a risk to firefighters and township residents. As an example, Durkin points to National Fire Protection Agency regulations that say there must be four firefighters at a fire before anyone can enter the structure — two firefighters enter the building and two remain outside.

“We are hardly ever at that [number],” he said.

The chief said the problem boils down to money. He said pay increases, cost-of-living and fuel costs have outpaced the $1,565,000 generated by the six levies currently in place for the fire department.

Some of those levies, he said, date to 1976. The most recent levy was put in place in 2005.

Durkin is asking township residents to approve a new 2-mill, five-year renewable levy in November. He said the 2 mills will generate an additional $472,000 annually.

Durkin said funds from the new levy would be used to keep up staffing levels at both fire stations.

“With the fire department money tight. I need people to understand that, yes, we are closing the stations [for certain periods], but we need the personnel to respond, and we are not able to do that right now,” he said.

jgoodwin@vindy.com