A volunteer fire company in Connecticut is calling on town residents not to gear up but to consider renting their properties to responders at a reasonable rate.
Former Old Saybrook Chief J.T. Dunn says the department is losing members as rent prices rise.
“We know for a fact that volunteers have had to move out of town If we don’t recognize that these issues need to be solved to keep those numbers robust then we’re going to have a problem,” he told WFSB.
The fire company requires its members to live in town. But officials may have to reconsider that as they don't want to see the firefighters they trained leave to serve elsewhere.
“It’s great for that other town they’ll get this trained firefighter who can move in and serve that other town but it’s horrible for Old Saybrook,” Dunn said.
“Perhaps adding a bunkroom to the firehouse or buying property in the town to build some type of residential area for volunteer firefighters, that’s the type of things we’d have to look at down the road,” Dunn said adding that the company currently has 80 members.
