Connecticut Fire Chief, Officials Consider Closing Fire Station

WALLINGFORD – The dwindling ranks of the town’s volunteer firefighters may lead to the closing of one of the its five fire stations.

Fire Chief Richard Heidgerd said he and other department officials are evaluating whether the Yalesville Fire Station on Hope Hill Road should be closed. A decision will be made by theof the month, Heidgerd said.

“This has been a challenge that we have had for many years,” Heidgerd said. “About a decade ago, we had 120 volunteers and now we have 54 town-wide. The slide (in enrollment) just hasn’t stopped.”

One option being considered if the Yalesville station is closed would be to combine the volunteers from that station with those at the North Farms Volunteer Fire Department on Barnes Road, he said.

“Yalesville has 13 members; that’s just not enough,” Heidgerd said. “North Farms has 18 members. If I can combine the two, I’ll have a strong station.”

The North Farms department will move into a new $3.9 million station on North Farms Road next spring, which will have plenty of room to combine the two groups of volunteer firefighters, he said.

Heidgerd said that if the decision is made to close the Yalesville station, he’s prepared to address concerns that residents on the west side of town may have concerning response times. With the closing of the Yalesville station, the town’s Central Fire Headquarters will be the only fire station serving that part of town.

But Heidgerd said even with the Yalesville Fire Station in operation, “over the last six months, the engines out of the station hade only responded to 30 percent of the calls.”

“It creates a false sense of security,” he said.

Mayor William Dickinson Jr. predicted that if the decision is made to close the Yalesville station, Wallingford will be relying more on mutual aid, having fire departments from other towns come to augment the town’s firefighters.

“It’s a real concern,” Dickinson said.

Wallingford is not alone in having a decreasing number of volunteer firefighters. Cheshire Fire Chief Jack Casner said it is a problem for departments across Connecticut and around the nation.

“It’s a huge commitment of time, 200 hours of training just to get in the door,” Casner said. “People just don’t have as much free time as they used to.”

Cheshire has 60 volunteers, down from about 100 firefighters in the 1970s and 1980s, he said.

“We’re not in a dire situation,” Casner said. “But at the same time, we’re answering between 800 and 1,000 calls per year, so we’re doing more with less.”

The Old Saybrook Fire Department has 92 volunteers, said Deputy Chief Joe Johnson.

“That’s up from where it was five years ago, but it’s down a little from last year,” Johnson said.

Both Casner and Johnson say one reason they believe their departments have had some success in retaining volunteers is that they offer small incentives to those who join.

Cheshire offers gym memberships, life insurance and $4.50 per call stipend to cover the cost traveling to the station when a call comes in, according to Casner. Old Saybrook provides a small pension to volunteer firefighters who have served a minimum of 10 years, Johnson said.

Both communities offer tax abatements to volunteer firefighters.

In addition to its 54 volunteer firefighters, Wallingford has 63 career firefighters, Heidgerd said. The department and the town really haven’t addressed the idea of having only career firefighters, he said.

“There’s a cost to going to a full-time department,” Heidgerd said. “We need to support the volunteers for as long as possible.”

Dickinson is more blunt in his assessment of such a move.

“At this point, the answer is no,” the mayor said. “There is just no money for it.”


Call Luther Turmelle at 203-680-9388.