AMHERST — Continued pressures on the Amherst Fire Department to respond to medical emergencies and fire calls are prompting the town manager to pledge to hire three full-time firefighters to replace those on extended absences.
Town Manager Paul Bockelman told the Select Board Monday that he intends to have new firefighters hired and trained as soon as possible to fill vacant slots currently held by firefighters on long-term medical leave or who are on active military duty.
“That will help significantly,” said Bockelman, observing that the new firefighters will relieve some of the stress on the department that, at full staffing, has 42 firefighters who also serve as paramedics.
But with a fire staffing study by Andover-based Carlson Group not yet complete, even though it began prior to Bockelman starting as town manager last August, he said there is frustration that information is not yet available about whether Amherst needs to have more firefighters per shift and, if so, how to add these new positions.
The current minimum staffing is eight firefighters during the academic year, and a minimum of seven the rest of the year. It can rise to 13 firefighters per shift during busy times and with support of a financial contribution from the University of Massachusetts.
The union representing the staff, Amherst Firefighters Local 1764, has repeatedly posted on its social media channels, including Facebook and Twitter, that low staffing is a potential threat to public safety. The Amherst EMS serves Hadley, Leverett, Pelham and Shutesbury, along with UMass, Amherst College and Hampshire College, encompassing 125 square miles and 80,000 people.
And Fire Chief Walter “Tim” Nelson last summer applied for the Federal Emergency Management Agency’s Staffing for Adequate Fire and Emergency Response grant program. The $1.08 million grant request, which would have added six personnel, was turned down.
The study is examining how the four shifts are scheduled. The department has two groups of 10 firefighters and two groups of 11 firefighters, and each career firefighter works one 24-hour shift, then has a day off before working a second 24-hour shift, then has five days off.
Preliminary information from Carlson shows that the highest-cost option would be to add 10 permanent firefighters.
Select Board members asked whether the $4.63 million budget for the department that will come to Town Meeting later this month will be sufficient to meet the growing demands. Bockelman said he is comfortable that he can add new firefighters to fill the slots without affecting the bottom line.
Any implementation plan recommended by the study will also take time to complete. Bockelman said the new firefighters he is planning to hire won’t be able to go through the fire academy until summer and be available on the line until fall.
“It’s a long lead time no matter what you do,” Bockelman said.
Scott Merzbach can be reached at smerzbach@gazettenet.com.