Mass. Firefighters Protest Reduced Staffing Policy

NORTH ANDOVER, Mass. -- More than 30 town firefighters crowded into Town Hall last night to protest a change in the number of firefighters called into work.

North Andover Fire Chief Andrew Melnikas cited a dwindling overtime pay budget forcing him to adjust the department's staffing policy, cutting the minimum number of firefighters per shift from 12 to 11.

Melnikas made the change last month and union officials are asking new Town Manager Andrew Maylor to find a way to restore the staffing.

"We feel that not everything has been done to stop these cuts," said Lt. Timothy McGuire, vice president of the North Andover Fire Fighters Union Local 2035. McGuire addressed the board during public comment, adding that he's had productive meetings with Maylor.

Under the department's previous policy, the department staffed 13 firefighters per shift. If two firefighters were absent, officials would call in a man, paying him overtime. Under the new rule, officials can wait until there's three absent before calling in another firefighter.

McGuire said the staffing change impacts the community's public safety.

"There comes a point where you can't do more with less anymore," McGuire said. "We've reached that point."

Melnikas said he made the change because he didn't have enough money in the department's overtime budget to continue the same policy. He said the department would have needed $203,000 to get through June, but is down to $91,000 remaining. Town Meeting budgeted approximately $395,000 for the department's 2011-2012 overtime budget. "This wasn't done by choice," Melnikas said. "I did it because of the fiscal constraints."

The department, which has 52 firefighters, also has been operating without a deputy fire chief. The position went unfilled when Melnikas was promoted to chief in June 2010.

The new staffing change leaves just one man driving the department's new $779,000 ladder truck, something McGuire said is unsafe.

McGuire said he tells the lone ladder truck operator to drive slowly to incidents unless they're working fires -- which will hurt response times -- because the driver doesn't have any help.

"You need that second guy," McGuire said. "You need more than that but we just want to keep what we have."

McGuire said during last night's meeting that the department felt the cuts at a Dec. 30 fire at 32 Ashland Avenue. North Andover had only one man to throw ladders to various points of the building, and he was busy cutting holes in the roof for ventilation, McGuire said. The department needed a second ladder truck from Andover to help with ladder truck operations.

"We were lucky at this fire," McGuire said. "If it was a bigger home, it would have been a whole different scenario."

Melnikas said if his projections improve, he'll go back to the old staffing policy.

"This isn't etched in stone that I'm going to keep it this way for the rest of the fiscal year," Melnikas said.

Maylor said he supported Melnikas' decision, and mentioned after the meeting that multiple firefighters staff the truck's other two engines and two ambulances.

"I think what we're doing is supportable," Maylor said. "It's the right balance of providing the right amount of public safety response with the funds we have available."

Selectman Tracy Watson, the board chair, thanked firefighters for attending and working with Maylor.

"We won't solve anything this evening, but thank you for the open dialogue," Watson said.

McClatchy-Tribune News Service