by Frank Schroth

At the last meeting of the Milton Board of Selectmen Chief Grant addressed the department’s overtime. At the previous meeting the Selectmen had discussed a request for a Reserve Fund Transfer of $32,000 to cover overtime costs (see related post here.). Selectmen Keohane said he would vote no, expressing concerns regarding management of the budget. The Selectmen invited the Chief to speak to the issue.

Grant gave the Selectmen a presentation and explained that the Fire Department staff is extremely lean and that any vacation, sickness, or injury result in overtime in order to maintain the minimum level of 11 required to provide responsible safety and response. The Fire Department has a staff of 55 broken into 4 working groups

The Chief cited the following in his presentation:

• The National Fire Protection Agency sets the standards which Fire Departments operate under. All engine companies in Milton are staffed with 3. 5 man engine companies are said to operate at 100 % of their capabilities. 3 man engine companies operate at 33% of their capabilities.
• Staffing to NFPA 1710 Standard would require the addition of 13 Firefighters, the cost of this staffing increase would vary between $515,851 and $724,765
• Increasing Staffing on each group to 15 Firefighters would require the addition of 5 Firefighters costing between $198,400 and $278,765

Given the lean staffing, Grant noted in his presentation that “Without the ability to maintain our minimum manning through overtime hiring, apparatus must be put out of service jeopardizing both public and firefighter safety. ”