West Springfield fire chief: Staffing changes won’t impact department’s readiness

Feb. 10, 2021 | Ryan Feyre
rfeyre@thewestfieldnewsgroup.com

WEST SPRINGFIELD – The West Springfield Fire Department (WSFD) has reduced their minimum staffing per shift from 16 to 15 members, effective Jan. 31.

In a letter sent to the International Association of Firefighters, Chief William Flaherty explained that the decision was made due to “budgetary concerns.”

The Firefighters’ Union and Flaherty came to an agreement in late January with regard to how the WSFD will operate with one less member for minimum staffing per shift. According to this agreement, there will always be three fire engines – one at each station – that will be available to respond to a fire at any given time. Three ambulances will still be dispatched more frequently to service residents.

There was an initial worry from the union that a ladder truck would be unavailable to operate because of one less member, but Flaherty said in a letter to the council that this was not true.

“I would never make any decision that would jeopardize the safety of the public or the members of the fire department,” said Flaherty.

The union also argued that shortened staffing would compromise the effectiveness of the department. According to the union, 30  percent of the WSFD have contracted COVID-19 over the past 10 months. With this in mind, the union asserted that not filling vacancies would put the community even more at risk. The union, in general, did not support Flaherty’s decision to cut minimum staffing per shift to 15, and asked the public for support to reverse the decision.

In his letter to the council however, Flaherty said that if all three ambulances are out on emergencies at the same time, then the engine and ladder at the headquarters will be put into service.

“This has been our standard practice since our second ambulance was put into service 20 years ago,” said Flaherty. The chief had also suggested taking Engine 1 out of service and operating the ladder with three personnel when staffing dropped to 15, but the union suggested taking the ladder truck out of service to run Engine 3 as the ladder.

Flaherty said that there are no plans for layoff at this time. The city of West Springfield was awarded a grant three years ago to hire eight additional firefighters through the federal Staffing For Adequate Fire and Emergency Response (SAFER) grant program, according to Flaherty. Prior to this grant, the WSFD only required 14 employees per shift.

With the SAFER grant, the WSFD was able to increase their minimum manning to 16 employees per shift over the past couple of years. While Flaherty proposed to reduce it to 15 employees, that number would still be more than what the WSFD had for many years.

“Minimum manning only comes into play when employees are not present at work for various reasons,” said Flaherty. “So, if no employees are out on leave or vacation, and no employees call in sick or use a personal day, any given shift would be fully staffed with 18 firefighters.”

The minimum manning of 15 per shift will hopefully help control overtime costs, according to Flaherty.

“For many years, the town was able to provide more than adequate service with a minimum manning of 14, so I believe that 15 will be more than sufficient to meet our public safety needs,” said Flaherty.

The chief also anticipates that personal time for firefighters will be used in instances where requests to use vacation time have been denied due to staffing. Twenty twenty-one will be the first year where firefighters are able to use 24 hours of personal time as needed with little advance notice.

During fiscal year 2020, the council approved a reserve transfer for the amount of $65,000 for unanticipated fire department overtime costs resulting from illnesses, retirements, and firefighters training at the Fire Academy. Also, $75,000 was allocated for additional overtime costs for the Ambulance Fund, according to Flaherty.

The WSPD has also faced difficulty in staffing overtime shifts needed to keep up with the requirement of 16 members per shift. On Christmas Eve for example, vacations, sickness, and injury-related absences forced the WSPD to operate with 14 firefighters, which took an engine and ambulance out of service. This happened multiple times throughout 2020.

Despite these difficulties, the union did not bring forth any safety concerns, according to Flaherty.

Flaherty met with the union to discuss their operational concerns for the new minimum staff number of 15. They reached an agreement on how the department will be staffed in rare instances where all fire department personnel are responding to calls at the same time. Changes with regards to mutual aid will also be addressed in the future.  

“I believe that this proposed change will not compromise the safety of the residents or the members of the Fire Department,” said Flaherty. “I am confident that the fire department can more than adequately meet the needs of the community with the staffing in place.”

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