STAMFORD, Conn. The following letter from the Stamford Professional Fire Fighters Association comes in response to a letter from Mayor Michael Pavia outlining his proposed fire plan. The association has been a strong opponent of the plan. The Daily Stamford welcomes all letters to the editors. They can be e-mailed to reporter Anthony Buzzeo at [email protected].
In his recent letter to The Daily Stamford, Mayor Michael Pavia continues to repeat the same inaccuracies regarding his proposed second paid fire department for the city. As has been the case for the two years that this Pavia-created controversy has been raging, the mayor is long on fluff but short on substance, and even shorter on facts and figures that have been repeatedly requested by our citys legislators on the Board of Representatives.
In his op-ed, the mayor talks about a new structure that meets the needs of 21st century Stamford, but his fire plan proposal is nothing more than the same system, an outgrowth of pre-1949 Stamford but at a considerably higher price to city taxpayers.
- North Stamford residents will need to continue relying on understaffed departments with as few as two career firefighters on duty per firehouse and the hope that enough volunteer firefighters show up to adequately handle their fire or medical emergency. The National Fire Protection Association (NFPA) calls for a minimum of four firefighters to properly staff a fire engine. Under Federal OSHA regulations, a minimum of four firefighters is required to be on scene before firefighters can enter a burning structure.
- Under the terms of the proposed agreement, crafted by Pavia political crony and then city legal director Michael Larobina between the city and the Stamford Volunteer Fire Department, while there is a minimum response time requirement to arrive at emergencies the proposed contract has many loopholes that allow the proposed private fire department to throw out its high response times and not calculate those in their average.
- The mayors plan calls for the hiring of 47 new paid firefighters for this new private fire department, plus the 10 paid drivers already employed by the Long Ridge Fire Company. The Stamford Volunteer Fire Department would consist mostly of paid personnel, and by the mayors own admission (letter to Board of Representatives President Randall Skigen dated Aug. 3, 2011) would be a combination fire department, NOT a volunteer fire department.
- While the city will be paying the misnamed Stamford Volunteer Fire Department at least $8 million annually, it will have almost no oversight over this private fire department. The citys public safety director, a position appointed by the mayor, would serve only as a non-voting member of the board of directors.
- There have been two studies conducted by independent outside fire safety consulting companies that have recommended that Stamford have one fire chief in charge of all of the citys fire services. The mayor continues to ignore these recommendations.
A Stamford charter revision proposal to create a single fire chief for the entire city could be voted on in November 2012, when charter revision is on the ballot. The mayor is trying to give taxpayers the bums rush because hes afraid too many truths about the real impact of his plan will be exposed in that debate.
There is a plan developed by the citys professional fire chiefs that would reassign some Stamford Fire & Rescue (SFR) personnel and equipment to North Stamford, giving those residents and businesses a uniform and guaranteed response to their emergencies at no additional cost to the taxpayers. This would allow for the continuation of the citys long tradition of volunteer fire companies and create a single citywide command structure for Stamfords fire services.
Mayor Pavia refuses to consider this plan, refuses to provide a real cost analysis of the plan, all in the hope of providing his political cronies with a job at his personal fire department.
We ask the citizens of Stamford to speak up and support an amendment to the city charter to provide equal fire protection citywide under the command of one fire chief. We also request them to ask their elected representatives to pass a responsible budget, without creating a second paid fire department with 47 new hires.
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