Branford Will Add 8 New Firefighters to Bolster Fire Department

BRANFORD, CT - The town of Branford is planning to do something it hasn’t done in 13 years - add additional man/woman power to the town’s Fire Department.

Bolstered, in part, by a federal grant, the Representative Town Meeting voted unanimously to add eight new firefighters to the department.

“We have been stretched too thin,” RTM member Donald Conklin said. Conklin said there has been no increase in staffing in the Fire Department since 2005.

“Eight firefighters would increase the force by 22 percent,” said Conklin. He added while there has been no increase in the number of firefighters for 13 years that the call volume the department has responded to has increased 31 percent over that same time.

The department has been stretched so thin, RTM members said, that the chief and assistant chief have had to call out on calls on several occasions because there was nobody else.

Conklin said the lack of adequate staffing has also meant some things have slipped to the back burner - such as inspection of buildings, additional training, etc., things Conklin said that could be done that would be preventative manners that could help before fires and other incidents break out.

Fellow RTM members Peter Black also noted that there has been a sharp increase in medical calls that the Fire Department is responsible for handling.

“We’re getting older as a town,” Black said. “That causes health problems” that the Fire Department as first responders are also responsible for.

Photo by Jack Kramer