Five years after Haverhill firefighters requested additional staff for the department, union members returned to the City Council Tuesday to provide an update on staffing amid one-time grant funding that is expected to run out in two years.
Councilor Melissa J. Lewandowski spoke to the progress.
“We have seen phenomenal gains to the operation of our fire department over the last year and this has a direct correlation to lives saved and to that advocacy,” she said.
Local 1011 President Tim Carroll thanked councilors for their support along the way. “When we walked in five years ago, we had one, maybe two councilors that were behind us, and now we probably got the whole Council. It’s a welcome change,” he said. “And the mayor, that’s another welcome change to get things done.”
Councilor Ralph T. Basiliere, who was not a member five years ago, sought assurances that staffing of a possible new Broadway fire station won’t come at the expense of Engine 1 at the High Street station, the department’s busiest apparatus. Carroll sought to allay the councilor’s concern.
He said, “That four-man truck that’s there right now, it should never go below four. It’s the first in on most of our heaviest calls, like our car accidents and our fires. Engine 1 is probably our first one in on the majority. That’s the truck that should never come out of service.”
Carroll noted that the department could seek retention grants to maintain current firefighter levels once the city exhausts the $4.1 million federal grant it received last year to add 16 firefighters. He noted the additional staff costs about $1.4 million a year and there’s no guarantee Washington will keep sending money.
Union secretary Ryan Fairbanks added that though there could be “wiggle room” with existing grant funding, it will lead to “hard conversations” in the coming years. He explained the city is almost a year into the grant and “Those conversations are coming quickly.”
Carroll said the added staff and truck makes the city “100% safer today than it was five years ago.” As WHAV reported in July, the department placed a second ladder truck in service thanks to the federal grant. Carroll noted, however, the addition has not increased the department’s response times.
“Adding a truck to Bradford does not make our response times faster. Yes, we may clear up sooner, and that’s a number we can’t quantify but response times probably haven’t changed that much,” he said. “Yes, we have more people on scene, which makes our jobs a hell of lot easier and makes us a hell of a lot safer.”
He later added, “yes we need that ladder truck, but we also need that engine on 97.”
Councilor John A. Michitson stressed the city needs economic development to defray future costs of maintaining and growing staffing levels.
Mayor Melinda Barrett said she is committed to a new Broadway-area station on Route 97. “We will pursue that,” she said. “I don’t know that it will be soon,” explaining the state is still evaluating the city’s request to give up land near Interstate 495.
Other councilors, such as President Thomas J. Sullivan said he was happy with the new “mood and vibe” between Barrett, the Council and the department.
As WHAV reported this week, both Carroll and Fairbanks will be stepping down from their posts by Jan. 8 and will be succeeded by Donald Minion as president and Keith Baldwin as secretary.