Griswold--A paid chief will head the town's two volunteer fire departments under an agreement the two departments signed recently with the town.
The agreement stops short of merging the two departments, A.A. Young Hose & Ladder Co. in Jewett City and the Griswold Volunteer Fire Company. Each department will continue to retain its own chief and will have separate budgets.
However, the accord will shift administrative duties from volunteers to the new fire chief, allowing volunteers to focus more on emergency services, said Fred Marzec, chief of the Griswold Volunteer Fire Company.
"This will take the burden of menial tasks off the volunteers," said Marzec. "It frees up firefighters and EMTs to do what they really want, fight fires and respond to emergencies."
The new arrangement is intended to streamline functions within both departments and eliminate the duplication of services as well as shift administrative duties away from volunteers, said First Selectman Paul J. Brycki.
Overall, the agreement is intended to save the town money, increase recruitment and retention of volunteers and eliminate the possibility of creating a paid fire department, Marzec said.
Steven Merchant Jr., the town's fire marshal, will assume the additional responsibilities of fire chief of the two departments. Merchant, whose salary is $39,000 for the coming fiscal year, will earn an additional $5,000 to oversee the two companies. The fire departments will share the cost of Merchant's salary increase.
Though Merchant's role will largely be administrative, he would have the power to assume operational leadership on fire scenes, Marzec said.
Though Marzec, like other members of both fire companies, had reservations about bringing the two companies under the leadership of a single chief, he agreed to the change as a means of preserving the tradition of volunteer fire companies. The amount of paperwork and other administrative duties the volunteers are required to undertake, Marzec said, makes it difficult to recruit and retain firefighters.
"Volunteer service is really getting crushed by the weight of rules and regulations," he said.
Richard Smith, chief of the A.A. Young Company, could not be reached for comment. The agreement would not change the way the two companies respond to emergencies in the borough and in the town, Marzec added. Currently each company backs up the other by automatically responding to calls that originate in either the borough or the town.
