Noreaster Storm Becomes A Fire Plan Battlefield

Last week, Mayor Michael Pavia to pass his long-debated fire plan, using a recent Stamford fire as a basis for how the incident could've been better handled if his plan was in place. Similarly, the Stamford Professional Firefighters Association, who have created their own alternative fire during their opposition to Pavia's fire plan, released the following statements after last weekend's historic snowstorm:

"From Friday afternoon through the overnight Monday morning, SFRD firefighters responded to 250 incidents citywide.  Many of these emergencies occurred in territories in North Stamford where the city’s various volunteer fire departments usually respond."

"The events triggered by this storm show how the volunteers can very successfully work with SFRD personnel but it also shows the inadequacies of the mayor’s outsourcing plan...does it really make sense to pay a private corporation over $8 million annually to provide understaffed fire engines and then pray that enough volunteers will show up in the middle of the night to adequately respond to an emergency."

According to SFRD, one Monday morning structural fire alone required 29 firefighters to put out, and a second Long Ridge fire later that day required another 29. SPFA has stated that if Mayor Pavia's fire service plan were in effect, either incident would've been reliant on 12-18 firefighters on duty, assisted by volunteers. 

"18 firefighters would not be enough to deal with the two structure fires in one morning, while also overseeing countless other emergencies that might occur," SPFA said in their most recent press release.

Storms like Noreaster and Irene have the potential to stretch city's hard-working firefighters, emergency medical response teams, and their resources thin. While much of SFRD's work was done in North Stamford, serious incidents of equal quantity occured on the West Side, or Downtown? 

Mayor Pavia isn't praying that volunteers "show up" in such situations, as volunteer firefighting appears to be the cornerstone of his plan. "Thinking more about the fire plan, if you look at it, and read it, it's two documents...it consolidates the volunteer fire companies into one company, and it's contract between volunteers and the city of Stamford which details what the requirements are for that fire company to maintain its relationship with the city," Mayor Pavia told Patch.

Former Stamford Fire Chief and RFG Fire Rescue consultant Ron Graner re-focused the priorities of the fire plan in a letter to the Board of Representatives:

"The real question has never really been about the professionalism of either the active volunteers or the career staff in any of the citywide fire rescue stations. The primary question has always been about safety for all of these responders and the citizens of Stamford. As city leaders you as the members of the BOR cannot allow the discussion to disintegrate into a war between volunteer emergency responders, career emergency responders and those with political agendas that want to maintain their power bases. You must focus your deliberations on how to provide fire rescue services city wide safely effectively and efficiently within a cost effective management structure."

Given the that CL&P is generally inept, Stamford's services, especially its firefighters, are the only thing we have going for us when disaster strikes. As Noreaster proved, nature doesn't care about the timing of taxes, unions, or staffing disputes. 

The Board of Representatives has to push something through, and soon.