Fires Up, Fighters Down

In Doug Jackson's six years as the town's fire chief, he said he's never even spent the entirety of his Garcia overtime budget. This year, he's already 20 grand in the hole and there are three months to go.

, in a year of an unusually high number of major fires, Jackson told the Monday night changes need to be made. Namely, filling the three vacant slots which he typically keeps unfilled to save the town some cash.

“But it’s not been working,” Jackson said. “It’s extraordinary to be down this many (fighters).”

“That’s 25 percent of the” force, said Assistant Chief Chuck Licata, noting he’s short more men this year than the last three years combined. The chiefs said they needed to tap into the Civil Service list to fill the vacancies.

Before this year, the department had saved money keeping the three slots vacant because it didn’t have to pay the roughly $18,000 for family benefits per employee. Instead, career fighters took the extra shifts but at straight-time pay.

Jackson said Garcia is the only mechanism in his department to get time-and-a-half for overtime. A federal mandate, it only kicks in when employees work more than 212 hours over a 28-day period. There’s no extra hourly pay if someone works, say, 50 hours in a given week if it doesn’t result in going over the 212 threshold.

Most years Jackson said he spends about $38,000 from his Garcia fund. But with the increase in fires and the steep decrease on the force, the FY‘11 $43,000 Garcia account was overdrawn by about $20,000 as of Feb. 28, he said.

And there have been more injuries recently, possibly stemming from the excessive overtime, said the chief. Three men are currently out on Workers’ Comp and another three are on long-term sick leave, he said.

Licata said he expected at least three fighters to retire this year. He said there are more retirements than usual as the median age on the force has climbed to around 40.

Meanwhile, East Haven has seen some big fires this year, including a handful of arsons, with fewer bodies to put them out.

Fire Marshal Tony Moscato said from July 1, 2010, through Feb. 28, 2011, fire losses have been exceptionally high. Structure fire losses have so far totaled about $1.5 million; contents (furniture, etc.) losses, $616,200; and motor vehicle losses, $59,050.

“We’ve had a tough year on losses,” Moscato told the commission.

The fire marshal said the biggest driver was the inferno last October at Thompson Gardens, an eight-unit residence. The fire started on a balcony by a cigarette that was left, still burning, in a flower pot, said Moscato. The pot was filled with potting soil, which contains combustible materials like peat moss, he said.

Flames traveled from the balcony to the attic space and destroyed two units. Because of major fire damage to the roof and extensive water damage in the building, Moscato said the building had to be taken down. It’s now in the process of being rebuilt.

That loss alone was about $1 million, he said, or two-thirds of the total structure losses this year.

Four of the fires since July 1, 2010, were determined arson, said Moscato. 
Two occurred in the early morning hours of  Jan. 2. The first was reported at 3:41 a.m. at Giuseppe's Apizza at 853 Foxon Road, which was determined intentional in late February.  Then at 6:15 a.m., firefighters were dispatched to 220 Warner Road. The sole occupant during the blaze, James Carangelo, was later arrested and charged with first-degree arson and animal cruelty.

Moscato said there have also been two motor vehicle arsons this fiscal year.

(Watch his video above for a lesson in fire safety.)