Public Safety Commission Meeting – Fire Department Report – March 13, 2026
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Public Safety Commission Meeting – Fire Department Report
The Public Safety Commission held a special meeting for the fire department on March 13, 2026, at 6:39 PM. Chair called the meeting to order, approved previous minutes, and heard a detailed monthly report from Chief Albert. No public comments were made. The chief covered operational statistics, staffing challenges, equipment cost concerns, and facility updates.
Consent Calendar
- Approval of Minutes: Motion and second to approve minutes from December 15, 2025. Unanimously passed without discussion.
Public Comments & Testimony
- Neither in-person nor online attendees spoke during either public hearing period (agenda items and other matters).
Discussion Items
- Correspondence: Thank-you letter from Bristol Fire Department for station coverage during a member’s funeral.
- Monthly Call Statistics: December – 356 calls; January – 341 calls. Significant incidents: fire on Long Hill Road, mutual aid to Cromwell, Southington, Meriden, Bristol, and West Hartford.
- Snowstorm Response: Three storms (two Level 3, one Level 4). Extra manpower used for calls and hydrant clearing; new GIS app allows real-time tracking of cleared hydrants.
- Dispatch and EMS Response: Citizen complaint after a 10–15 minute wait for an ambulance for a seizing child. Investigation led to adding 50–60 call types to fire response criteria. The chief hosted a CPR training session for the family to resolve the complaint.
- Apparatus and Parts Costs: Chief reported a national class action lawsuit for price gouging by apparatus dealers. Example: Engine One purchased for $600,000 in 2019 now costs $1.1 million; lead times extended to 3.5–4 years. Labor rate for contracted repair is $190/hour (plus trip charges and parts markup). Chief is exploring a shared mechanic position with Public Works.
- Overtime and Staffing: Overtime remains “heavy, exorbitant.” Current factors: multiple FMLA leave (12-week baby boom), a 400-day military deployment, and over 1,100 hours of Connecticut paid sick leave. A $350,000 appropriation was already needed. The chief has cut all non-essential spending and hopes to avoid further requests before June.
- Budget Discussion: Councilwoman Sweeney asked about expected deployments and budget planning. Chief will provide a multi-year average for overtime rather than a single percentage increase when presenting the budget.
- Facility and Equipment Updates:
- $65,000 in CDBG funds will reseal station floors (last done 20+ years ago).
- Cross Street roof and HVAC installation nearly complete.
- The Ferry Street false alarm issue resolved: state fire marshal determined the “area of refuge” is no longer needed; deadbolts will be installed to prevent unauthorized entry.
- Citywide EMS and Telecom: December – 950 ambulance calls; January – 853 calls; mutual aid ambulance use increased from 1 to 5. Telecom staffed at 19 dispatchers; deputy director position closed with many applicants; total incidents 6,649 (1,933 911 calls; 5,007 routine calls).
Key Outcomes
- Approved minutes from December 15, 2025.
- Chief-albert’s monthly report was received and filed.
- The department implemented an operational change: adding 50–60 call types to fire dispatch criteria to improve response to medical calls.
- No formal votes were taken on budget or policy proposals; the discussion informed future budget planning, and the chief will present multi-year overtime averages at the next budget meeting.
Meeting Transcript
Welcome everyone. This is Public Safety Commission meeting for the fire department hybrid in the policeman community room on Thursday, March 5th. This is a special meeting on WebEx and call the meeting to order at 6 39. We could take a two minutes, Councilman Darnell Ford. Councilman Anthony Manji Fico. Council Woman Kelly Sweeney. Councilman Gennaro. Thank you, everyone. All right. Next on the agenda is the approval of the minutes for the previous meeting, which was held on December 15th. Have a motion, please. So moved. Second. Any discussion? All right, hearing none. All in favor. Any opposed? Any abstentions? All right, matter passes. Next on the agenda is public hearing for matters on the agenda only. If there's anyone from the public wishing to speak at this time, please use the hand raised function to identify yourself. You will be acknowledged. State your name and your address. And please try to keep your comments to five minutes. Is there anyone from the public who wishes to speak at this time? So I okay. So I'll close this portion of the agenda and hand it over to Chief Albert. Good evening, everyone. Welcome back. Hope everyone had a good holiday a couple months ago. I'll kind of give like a condensed from the last two uh meetings that we would have had. Correspondence, we did get a thank you letter from the Bristol Fire Department. We did provide station coverage for them while they dealt with a passing of one of their members. So I did send an engine out there for a full day while they had the funeral services. Uh monthly report, December 356 calls. January 341 calls, uh, cause of significance. Uh we had a fire on Long Hill Road. Uh last Sunday we went to Cromwell for mutual aid. We did a mutual aid to Southernton, we did a mutual aid to Meredyn, um, the Bristol coverage, and then we also covered the town of West Hartford uh weekend as well. Um one of their members, retired member, actually is probably a second or third cousin of mine, his uh son was killed at 24 years old in a tragic accident. So uh career chiefs reached out if anyone any departments are willing to help. Um, obviously, um we were helped in our time of need in 2006 when we lost Captain Pagano. Um departments the outpouring of support was tremendous. I found the box when we were doing our renovations of all the departments that helped us, so that's something that I will always do and help out as long as I can. So I did send a battalion chief on our our quint out to West Harbour for about four hours on Sunday afternoon. So the on-duty guys can go through the services. Um as you know, it's no secret, we had a few snowstorms since since uh the last time we met. So we had two level three storms and we had a level four storm. So our storm policy is at levels depending on the severity of inches, wind, blizzards, because obviously we do uh rely heavily on callback companies or callback members. So we have a second alarm fire.
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