HAMPDEN – The Hampden Fire Department (HFD) hired three career firefighters full-time, starting July 3. Now, over a month since their start date, Fire Chief Mike Gorski believes the town has experienced significant improvement.

“Response times have been radically cut during the day shift as predicted. Several townspeople have commented positively on how quickly the HFD responded under the new staffing plan,” Gorski said.

With the hiring of the three full-timers, HFD is categorized as a combination department.  Combination is in reference to the three career staff, the towns’ call firefighters and their volunteers.  

According to Gorski, call firefighters are now paid by the call.

“During this period volunteers will be trained to our minimum standards and evaluated before moving into the call firefighter ranks,” Gorski said.  

While Gorski didn’t comment on whether Hampden might need more full-time firefighters in the future, he did note how receptive the community has been to the issue.

“We will always do our best.  We alerted the community to the daytime staffing situation and the community responded.  We will keep the community informed of any service delivery issues,” Gorski said.