Fire Study Committee, Selectmen Look for Solutions

Better medical resources for fire vehicles and dispatch staffing patterns will be the top priorities for fire and town officials as they look for better ways to decrease emergency response time in Easton.

Officials discussed the issue Monday night when the board of selectmen met with the fire study committee, which that relying on two of the town's three stations was inadequate.

"The recommendations in this report are all very important," Board of Selectmen Chair Colleen Corona said. "It’s a recommendation that clearly they need more staffing. It’s an indication that any consideration of a two station system really has to come off the table."

Still, the town is facing a budget crunch that forced __ and may not get better in the near future, Easton Town Administrator David Colton said.

While the fire department will be filling two positions in the coming months - one returning employee from active military duty, and one who will attend the fire academy in the spring - budget constraints will continue to cause rolling closures of the town's Depot Street Station, fire chief Tom Stone said Tuesday.

While rolling closures will persist, officials are looking for ways to decrease response time. According to a fire study conducted in 1998, the fire department meets the recommended response time of six minutes 50-percent of the time with three stations open and only 33-percent of the time with two stations open. Added development in town at Roache Brothers Plaza, and Five Corners, coupled with a 3.65 percent population increase since 2000 could have only made things worse, committee chair Steve Merlin said.

With a fire doubling every minute, something needs to be done, he said.

Through either grants or capital budgeting, the department is looking to find resources to upgrade fire vehicles to be certified for advanced life support kits and monitors. The major expense, according to Stone, would be defibrillator monitors at a cost of $30,000 per monitor.

Merlin told selectmen that although some fire trucks may arrive to medical calls first with personnel certified for medical emergencies, the adequate equipment isn't available for them to do their jobs, and the responders have to wait for an ambulance.

Merlin and the rest of the committee, along with the board of selectmen, also discussed ways to get more firefighters responding. Partnering with other towns like Mansfield, Sharon and Norton for dispatch services was a possibility, according to Stone.

Selectman Dan Murphy suggested the fire department look into civilian dispatchers.

"Getting that firefighter back on the truck as opposed to answering the phone seems like something to explore," he said.

Committee member Keith Graveline said the town should consider a new survey from the Insurance Services Organization to determine the town’s Public Protection Classification. The last survey, which can affect insurance premiums for commercial and residential properties, was conducted in 2002 and labeled Easton at a "four" bordering on a "five", with "one" being the best and "10" being the worst.

The report notes that the PPC "provides incentives and rewards for communities that choose to improve their firefighting services."

"If the study needs to be done, it needs to be done," Stone said. "Just the way the town has been built out since 2002 - that might quickly bump us back up to a five. Those things could kind of bump it up to a five right away which could increase homeowners insurance premium."

Stone, Colton and selectmen commended the committee for its work with the report.

"It’s been very clarifying," Corona said. "I wish we weren’t in the financial situation we were in. I’m hoping to God that our financial situation will improve."