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STAMFORD, Conn. Capt. Peter Kokkoris of the Belltown Volunteer Fire Department believes Mayor Michael Pavia's plan to expand the role of volunteer firefighters across Stamford is a good idea.
Kokkoris, who heads Belltown's training programs and will soon become a state-certified training instructor, said he has "never had a problem" working alongside professional firefighters. And he doesn't see it becoming a problem as the mayor's firefighting reorganization plan is fully implemented by late fall.
As part of the plan, the Belltown, Long Ridge and Turn of River volunteer fire departments agreed last month to merge and become the Stamford Volunteer Fire Department, with a minimum of two career firefighters in each station house at all times. The Springdale Volunteer Fire Department is expected to join the agreement soon. Paid firefighters previously were unevenly spread among six firehouses.
Pavia's reorganization plan is to ultimately form two fire departments in the city: the Stamford Fire and Rescue made up of paid firefighters and the Stamford Volunteer Fire Department.
"We have very high training standards, have reached our calls 100 percent of the time, and we've worked very well with the city's paid professionals for years," Kokkoris said. "I know we can do the job and save taxpayer money."
Ray Whitbread, former chief of the Turn of River Volunteer Fire Department, believes Stamford is a safer place with volunteer fire departments' agreeing to become one unit. "What we have now is equal distribution of firefighters throughout the district," Whitbread said.
But manpower may be a problem when fighting fires in parts of Stamford where volunteer fire departments have been merged, the head of the city's fire union said.
Unlike paid firefighters "volunteers are available when they are available," Brendan Keatley, president of the Stamford Professional Fire Fighters Association, said of the creation of the Stamford Volunteer Fire Department.
Keatley said the association prefers one fire district and said the mayor's plan, which includes having only two paid firefighters on weekends, "would not be enough in case of an emergency."
Would you feel safer or less safe under Mayor Michael Pavia's firefighting reorganization plan? Leave a comment below.
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