Wilton has six firefighters on duty at all times. But in order to fight a building fire, 16 firefighters are needed on scene within the first eight to nine minutes, Fire Chief Paul Milositz said at Wednesdays Board of Finance and Board of Selectmen budget meeting.
The department is only able to handle such emergencies because it has mutual aid agreements with neighboring towns, the chief said, making the point that the Wilton Fire Department gets by with a small staff. They do a lot more than is asked of them, Milositz said.
As for improvements in department facilities, Milositz said the department will be able to turn an old storage space into a training room thanks to a $160,000 Assistance to Firefighters Grant. The grant was given to the department to provide more training space and a sprinkler system to protect equipment from a fire at the firehouse.
People think firehouses dont burn down, yet every month or so I get an email saying, Look at this firehouse that burnt down, Milositz said.
Only about $19,000 of the grant will be able to offset spending on training, Milositz says.
The purpose of Wednesdays meeting was for the Board of Finance to question the Board of Selectmen and town departments about their proposed spending for fiscal 2012. The selectmen have requested a 4.51 percent increase from the current year. Because of cutbacks in recent years, the increase averages out to just 1.6 percent over the past three years and is needed just to maintain town services, First Selectman Bill Brennan said.
We are keeping up with it, but sooner or later it is going to catch up, Brennan said of deferring services and projects the past few years.
The Board of Finance will have a public hearing on the selectmens budget on March 31 at Middlebrook School.
What town services do you think need to be improved? Which do you think are overfunded? Share your thoughts below or email reporter Anthony Buzzeo at [email protected].
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