Conn. Firefighters Upset Over Outsourcing Decision

March 03--MIDDLETOWN -- The state firefighters' union has filed a grievance against the state Department of Mental Health and Addiction Services over the department's decision to outsource firefighting duties at Connecticut Valley Hospital.

South Fire District took over primary responsibility for emergency calls to the CVH campus in September 2011 as a result of the state's decision. But both the CVH fire department and the firefighters' union said that while the deal saves the state money, it is likely to increase costs to Middletown taxpayers.

The state's decision removed firefighting duties from the three firefighters on staff at CVH. While they still perform inspections and maintain equipment, including fire alarms and fire extinguishers, they do not respond to emergency calls and cannot get overtime.

"There's no reason for any of this. We're still here," said CVH firefighter Joe Fragoso. "I'm a trained EMT, and if someone has a heart attack across the street I won't get dispatched. All they did was take away our jobs and give it to someone else."

Overtime expenses for the three firefighters at CVH prompted the state to explore ways to cut costs, said DMHAS spokesman James Siemianowski. The Courant reported last year that the chief, deputy chief and a firefighter were paid a combined $346,077 in 2010.

The state firefighters' union said overtime could have been reduced if the state hired a fourth firefighter for CVH.

"We as a union want to sit down and say we can find a way around this," said Christopher Brewer, vice president of the state police and fire union. "There's a lot of better ways for this to cost less money. This was a hasty decision made with very little thought process."

But Siemianowski said the state's analysis "concluded we would need far more staff to significantly reduce overtime."

In addition to the professional firefighters, the state paid a $1,700 stipend each to volunteer firefighters who also responded to calls at CVH. Siemianowski said the volunteers are no longer a part of emergency response at CVH, and the volunteer program has been discontinued -- an additional savings to the state.

"It was really a more efficient way for us to utilize our resources and avoid redundancy," he said of the shift in primary responsibility from the CVH fire department to the South Fire District.

Previously, South Fire District provided mutual aid to the CVH fire department -- meaning South District firefighters provided a secondary response to emergency recalls when the CVH department requested it.

South District Fire Chief Edward Badamo said the switch to primary CVH responsibility would not change the number of calls at CVH to which his department responded because they rolled out for every call anyway under the mutual aid agreement.

"There's really no difference in terms of the amount of calls or the cost to the district," Badamo said Tuesday. He said South Fire District sought a legal opinion that said if the state closed the CVH fire department, South District would be obligated to cover the campus because it is within that district. The CVH campus is off Bow Lane and Silver Street; the South District station is about two miles away, on Randolph Road. The city has two other fire departments -- the Middletown Fire Department on Main Street in the North End, and the Westfield Fire Department on East Street near the Westlake section.

The state has said it plans to renovate the CVH fire station on the hospital campus and lease it rent-free to South District as a substation.

Under the new scenario, mutual aid responsibilities for South District fall to the Middletown Fire Department, and fire officials there said costs have increased because of the overtime necessary to back up the South Fire District when its trucks are out on calls.

Middletown Fire Department Chief Gary Ouellette said since September the city fire district has seen an increase in the number of mutual aid calls for South Fire District. He said the city and the department will have to meet with South District officials to discuss how to share costs and coverage.

"We've seen an increase in responses to South District for mutual aid since they've started that agreement," Ouellette said.

Mayor Daniel Drew said it does appear that the Middletown Fire Department's overtime costs have risen, and said he is working with both departments to work out an arrangement that does not result in increased costs.

"My chief concern is public safety in the city of Middletown," Drew said. "I just want to make sure we can continue to provide services that are high-quality and cost-effective."

Badamo, however, said he has not noticed an increase in the number of mutual aid requests to the Middletown department from South District.

"I don't see it," Badamo said. "I bet it's really close to a wash. I haven't seen us call them any more than we would before."