One Third of New London, Ct FFs to be laid off

[nfd2004]

The Mayor of New London, Ct has announced that he will lay off 25 firefighters and elimate 30 % of the department. In addition he plans to lay off 10 police officers.

  New London is a small city in southeastern Connecticut. Like most cities in the northeast part of this country it has its share of closely packed 2 1/2 and 3 story frames. It has several old factory buildings, Some high rise apartment buildings and housing projects, its busy waterfront and the very busy I-95 passes right through it with one of Connecticuts largest bridges called "The Gold Star Bridge".

  Currently the fire dept consist of three Engine Cos each with one officer and two firefighters. Two Ladder Companies with only Two Firefighters, and they also provide the ambulance service for the city. Two ambulances are also manned with two firefighters each. When these ambulances are busy, a third reserve ambulance is crossmanned by the crew of a ladder co (ladder 35 in the south end).

  These firefighters would be laid off by the end of the month. In addition to this, most firefighters must remain on the job and not retire until age 62 because of their current retirement benefits. As a result, the people of that city would be loosing the younger, stronger firefighters and be dependent on less firefighters who are the older members of the dept.

  As for the police dept, I understand 10 police officers will be laid off, which includes eliminating the K-9 Unit.

  Certainly this will have a huge impact on the citizens, firefighters, and police officers safety in a place where serious shortages already existed.

  Of course we don't read anything of the Mayor willing to give up his part. Maybe cutting 30 % of what goes into his pocket.

 

[fdny1075k]

Wow, that's going to really take a toll on the FDNL. They are barely meeting minimum staffing requirements as it is. Only three on an Engine Co., including an officer, and only two guys on a Truck Co. Plus, one of those Truck Co.'s is a tiller, meaning that the only two guys on board are the driver and tillerman. Now with the loss of 25 guys, will one of the companies be closed as a result, or at least "browned out" certain times of the day? And, correct me if I'm wrong, but don't the firefighters who staff the Ambulances(100 and 200, 400 Reserve), also take on firefighting duties if required?

 

[nfd2004]

Wow, that's going to really take a toll on the FDNL. They are barely meeting minimum staffing requirements as it is. Only three on an Engine Co., including an officer, and only two guys on a Truck Co. Plus, one of those Truck Co.'s is a tiller, meaning that the only two guys on board are the driver and tillerman. Now with the loss of 25 guys, will one of the companies be closed as a result, or at least "browned out" certain times of the day? And, correct me if I'm wrong, but don't the firefighters who staff the Ambulances(100 and 200, 400 Reserve), also take on firefighting duties if required?

  That is correct.The New London Firefighters who staff the two manned ambulances (one is reserve and cross manned by a ladder in the Southend if needed) also are a part of the firefighting team. So those firefighters provide a dual service to its citizens. They man the ambulances and respond to fire calls as part of the team. That team number is 18 guys on the shift to cover the city. Minus the four from the ambulances leaves them with 14.

  I've also heard that there was talk of closing fire headquarters that houses an Engine Co besides the ambulance that is stationed there.

  For a small city dept, these guys do a lot of running. Three civilians are alive today because of the quick work that these firefighters did at two seperate fires recently. They have some excellent firefighters there now. But if things don't change with the pension and threat of layoffs, New London will loose some excellent firefighters while some other cities will pick them up and it will be their gain. Recently one young firefighter, who just a short while ago, was named "Firefighter of the Year" left for employment with another dept.

  I am told that if all these layoffs take place as reported, there will be no firefighters in their 20s and the youngest firefighters would be in their mid thirties. Not really a very good situtation for the firefighting team.

 

 

[johnd248]

And New Yorkers thought Bloomberg was bad.  This new guy in New London is the pits.

 

[fdny1075k]

Wow, that's going to really take a toll on the FDNL. They are barely meeting minimum staffing requirements as it is. Only three on an Engine Co., including an officer, and only two guys on a Truck Co. Plus, one of those Truck Co.'s is a tiller, meaning that the only two guys on board are the driver and tillerman. Now with the loss of 25 guys, will one of the companies be closed as a result, or at least "browned out" certain times of the day? And, correct me if I'm wrong, but don't the firefighters who staff the Ambulances(100 and 200, 400 Reserve), also take on firefighting duties if required?

  That is correct.The New London Firefighters who staff the two manned ambulances (one is reserve and cross manned by a ladder in the Southend if needed) also are a part of the firefighting team. So those firefighters provide a dual service to its citizens. They man the ambulances and respond to fire calls as part of the team. That team number is 18 guys on the shift to cover the city. Minus the four from the ambulances leaves them with 14.

  I've also heard that there was talk of closing fire headquarters that houses an Engine Co besides the ambulance that is stationed there.

  For a small city dept, these guys do a lot of running. Three civilians are alive today because of the quick work that these firefighters did at two seperate fires recently. They have some excellent firefighters there now. But if things don't change with the pension and threat of layoffs, New London will loose some excellent firefighters while some other cities will pick them up and it will be their gain. Recently one young firefighter, who just a short while ago, was named "Firefighter of the Year" left for employment with another dept.

  I am told that if all these layoffs take place as reported, there will be no firefighters in their 20s and the youngest firefighters would be in their mid thirties. Not really a very good situtation for the firefighting team.

Wow! That's not good.

If they close Fire Headquarters on Bank St.(E11, A100), that will leave the FDNL with only 2 Firehouses(North Station, South Station), 2 Engines(21, 31), 2 Trucks(25, 35), and 1 Ambulance(200)(Unless they move 100 to the South End and staff it full time, thereby having to close Truck 35). Can they contract EMS in the city out to a private Ambulance service?

New London does do a lot of running, I believe close to the area of 6,500 calls a year. They also get a lot of M/A from the city of Groton(particularly the Groton Sub Base), and surrounding towns(like Waterford).

Also, any idea what will happen to the Battalion Chief if HQ is closed?

 

[Bxboro]

The mutual aid is NOT from the City of Groton (thats a whole other story) !! FDNL receives their FAST from the Submarine Base FD which is in Groton. Nothing to do with the City of Groton Not to take away or get of the issue but I work on the other side of the river and several months ago our Truck was taken out of service due to issues (age related). Our powers to be refuse to replace it. . . . so no Truck Co. The whole area is going to hell in a hand basket !!!!!!

 

[nfd2004]

The mutual aid is NOT from the City of Groton (thats a whole other story) !! FDNL receives their FAST from the Submarine Base FD which is in Groton. Nothing to do with the City of Groton Not to take away or get of the issue but I work on the other side of the river and several months ago our Truck was taken out of service due to issues (age related). Our powers to be refuse to replace it. . . . so no Truck Co. The whole area is going to hell in a hand basket !!!!!!

  I am also familiar with the dept that Bxboro works for. He's right. The Truck Co had mechanical issues and they (the leaders) just decided its not needed anymore. well, tell that o the people that live in some of the surrounding condos.

  And "FDNY1075K", I just want to mention that the city of New London runs two staffed ambulances. A-100 out of Hqs on Bank St and A-200 out of Broad St (Northend Station). A third reserve ambulance (a-400) is kept at the southend station and that is crossmanned by the ladder company there (L 35) if needed.

  The plan is to go to a private contract ambulance service and eliminate those four firefighters per shift who perform a dual role as running the ambulances and also as firefighters if needed.

  There is a meeting next Thursday to discuss this issue and now the talk is that maybe this was a plot by the mayor to discuss give backs. But there is nothing to confirm that.

 

[grumpy grizzly]

Again, mutual aid is not a bail out plan for your financial issues If I live intown B and town A has financial issues why should my tax dollars, fire and police go to bail out your ass. Maybe a serious incident , police officer or a ff killed in my town now has a serious impact.R U going to assume the insurance payments, guess not. Mutual Aid is when you are faced with an overwhelming fire or other incident, not a cheap ass mayor!.

 

[fdny1075k]

Again, mutual aid is not a bail out plan for your financial issues If I live intown B and town A has financial issues why should my tax dollars, fire and police go to bail out your ass. Maybe a serious incident , police officer or a ff killed in my town now has a serious impact.R U going to assume the insurance payments, guess not. Mutual Aid is when you are faced with an overwhelming fire or other incident, not a cheap ass mayor!.

Not to open up a whole nother can of worms or change the subject, but that's like Camden, NJ. Up until a few years ago, they ran 6 Engines, 3 Ladders, 1 Squad, 1 Rescue, and a Deputy out of 2 Battalions and 6 Fire Stations. Now they run 4 Engines, 2-3 Ladders(depending on staffing/rigs in service), 1 Squad, a Deputy, and 1 Battalion. The additional Battalion is in service when manpower permits and the Rescue is cross-staffed by a Ladder Co. when needed. They laid off over a dozen guys and pretty much can't handle anything above a Structure Fire on their own now. Also, many fires goes without R.I.T., so M/A from the surrounding communties often handle R.I.T. and respond as the 2nd Alarm Assignment. Fire departments are meant to cover their own towns/cities, not to respond to fires in other communities because that communities' fire departments have been cut down so much by the city they put their lives on the line to protect, that they can no longer handle jobs on their own.

 

[johnd248]

Over the years, Bridgeport has closed numerous companies and now relies on mutual aid from Fairfield and Stratford just about anytime they have a working fire.  Taxpayers in Fairfield and Stratford are not aware of this.

 

[nfd2004]

John is also right. During Bridgeports own set of War Years in the late 70s and 1980s they fought a record number of fires. Sometimes four Working fires a day. During all those years and fires, they NEVER called for mutual aid. Now on just about Every fire they get, they are required to take companies from both Stratford and Fairfield in order to cover that city. Over the years the Bridgeport Fire Dept cut the manning on all the companies. They also went from 15 Engine Cos down to 9. For Ladders they went from 3, and 3 City Service Trucks (no aerial) to four trucks. The fourth truck was added by doing away with those three city service trucks.

  Newburgh, N.Y. has also had its share of cutbacks. They are down to 2 Engines and 1 Truck.

  Other cities across the country have had numerous companies closed throughout the country. But with the case of New London, Ct., I have never heard of any city cutting the dept by almost one third in one shot.

 

[fdny1075k]

John is also right. During Bridgeports own set of War Years in the late 70s and 1980s they fought a record number of fires. Sometimes four Working fires a day. During all those years and fires, they NEVER called for mutual aid. Now on just about Every fire they get, they are required to take companies from both Stratford and Fairfield in order to cover that city. Over the years the Bridgeport Fire Dept cut the manning on all the companies. They also went from 15 Engine Cos down to 9. For Ladders they went from 3, and 3 City Service Trucks (no aerial) to four trucks. The fourth truck was added by doing away with those three city service trucks.

  Newburgh, N.Y. has also had its share of cutbacks. They are down to 2 Engines and 1 Truck.

  Other cities across the country have had numerous companies closed throughout the country. But with the case of New London, Ct., I have never heard of any city cutting the dept by almost one third in one shot.

Yeah Willy. Bridgeport lost Engine 2, Engine 5, Engine 8, Engine 9, Engine 11, Engine 14, Truck 3, and Truck 12(City Service) since the War Years. Engine 5 was closed about five years ago. Since the loss of these companies, Fairfield almost always sends 1 & 1 and Stratford almost always sends 1 Engine to cover the city any time there is a job goin'. For the biggest city in Connecticut to need M/A nearly every time they have a worker, that's not good. New Haven also lost companies in the last twenty or so years. They lost Engine 2, Engine 3(became Tac. 2, then became Squad 2), Engine 7(became Tac. 1, then became Squad 1), Engine 12, (not sure if there ever was an Engine 13), Engine 14, Truck 5, Truck 6, the Central Battalion Chief, and their Fireboat. Hartford, I think, got off kind of on the light side. They lost Engine 3, Engine 4, Engine 6, Engine 12, Ladder 1, and Tac. 2.

One thing about many of these closures, was that the companies closed were merged with other companies into newer, larger, more centralized firehouses prior to their closures, so companies with multiple Engines or Trucks were the first in the line of fire when it came to budget cuts.

Bridgeport's Engine 5 was moved into HQ w/Engine 1, Ladder 5, Rescue 5, and Battalion 1, while Engine 8 was moved into Engine 6, Ladder 6, and Battalion 2's quarters. Engine 11 was also moved in with Engine 7 and Ladder 11. Engine 9 also I think went up to Engine 16's quarters as well, but I'm not sure. All of New Haven's closed companies were merged in with other companies in large firehouses. Engine 2 went in with Engine 4 and Truck 1, Engine 3 went in with Engine 6 and Truck 4, Engine 7 went in with Engine 10 and Truck 3, and Engine 14 and Truck 6 went in with Engine 8. Hartford's Engine 3 was quartered with their Engine 7 before it closed. Engine 4 and Ladder 1 were at HQ with District 1. When 4 & 1's closed, Tac. 1 moved up from Engine 8 and joined District 1. Engine 12 was in with Engine 11 and Ladder 5 in the West End before they were shut down, and Tac. 2 was in quarters with Engine 2, Ladder 3, and District 2.

And your right about Newburgh. I believe they went from 3 & 2 to 2 & 1 recently, with very minimum staffing. They pretty much rely on M/A for any and all structure fires in their city.

So, it's fair to say that many cities across the country, especially in New England it seems, were and still are hit hard when it comes to budget cuts. I know Boston also got hit hard a while back in the '70's or '80's, as did other large cities around New York, like Newark and Camden. Recently, big cities like Philly and Baltimore had gotten hit hard with budget/staffing cuts. It's amazing how politicians have no regard for the fire department when it's time to cut down on city spending. They always seem like the first to get cut.

 

[fdny1075k]

What's going on in New London is unheard of. It reminds me of a similar city in Pennsylvania that I've been to often in the past.

Lancaster, PA, the oldest inland city in America(which was our Capitol for one day during the Revolution) was at one time protected by 4 Engines and 2 Trucks in 4 Fire Stations, in a very compact, tight inland city of over 55,000 in around 10 square miles. There are a lot of rowhouses, power lines, traffic problems, and tight one way streets. It's basically the ideal city for a tiller, but the city council won't hear of it, so go figure.

They have lost 1 Engine out of the 4 in the past, then made the 2 Trucks into "Quints", to respond first due on all calls as Engines in the northern areas of the city. Now as of last year, they lost one of their two Trucks permanently. The rig in question was a 75' Quint but was small enough to go down many tight streets in it's first due that the other Truck Co. can't. Plus, there are talks of closing or at least browning out another Engine. So, basically they went from 4 & 2 to 2-3 & 1 in the past fifteen years. Not to mention, they run in the area of 5,000 runs a year, some of which are medical.

 

[nfd2004]

The Mayor of New London, Ct has announced that he will lay off 25 firefighters and elimate 30 % of the department. In addition he plans to lay off 10 police officers.

  New London is a small city in southeastern Connecticut. Like most cities in the northeast part of this country it has its share of closely packed 2 1/2 and 3 story frames. It has several old factory buildings, Some high rise apartment buildings and housing projects, its busy waterfront and the very busy I-95 passes right through it with one of Connecticuts largest bridges called "The Gold Star Bridge".

  Currently the fire dept consist of three Engine Cos each with one officer and two firefighters. Two Ladder Companies with only Two Firefighters, and they also provide the ambulance service for the city. Two ambulances are also manned with two firefighters each. When these ambulances are busy, a third reserve ambulance is crossmanned by the crew of a ladder co (ladder 35 in the south end).

  These firefighters would be laid off by the end of the month. In addition to this, most firefighters must remain on the job and not retire until age 62 because of their current retirement benefits. As a result, the people of that city would be loosing the younger, stronger firefighters and be dependent on less firefighters who are the older members of the dept.

  As for the police dept, I understand 10 police officers will be laid off, which includes eliminating the K-9 Unit.

  Certainly this will have a huge impact on the citizens, firefighters, and police officers safety in a place where serious shortages already existed.

  Of course we don't read anything of the Mayor willing to give up his part. Maybe cutting 30 % of what goes into his pocket.

  A meeting was held at New London, Ct City Hall the evening of Tuesday May 29th regarding the possible lay offs of 25 Firefighters (30 % of the entire fire dept) and 10 New London City Police Officers. They had all recieved a letter of their pending lay offs. This meeting was "packed" with firefighters from across the state. As a result NO City Firefighters or Police Officers will be laid off on July 1st.

  Yes, it proved to me that this Brotherhood thing is "Alive and Well". I think this "hot shot mayor" who apparently was trying to make a name for himself, got a real surprise. He never realized how strong that Brotherhood really is. Guys came from very long distances to support these firefighters. Those guys did a GREAT JOB. And let this prove to any other "hot shot mayor" here in Connecticut, who is looking to reach stardom and help his own political future what could happen.

  I am very glad to hear that those Excellent and Dedicated firefighters and police officers of the City of New London will be able to continue to provide its city the protection they so rightfully deserve. And now my only wish is that the citizens of New London remember this and end this mayors political future.

 

[nfd2004]

I've been told by a few New London Firefighters that this is NOT a Done Deal yet, but they (the New London Fire Dept) showed the mayor that : "You mess with One of Us, You mess with All of Us".

 

[fdny1075k]

There's a reason why they call it the Brotherhood.