GREENFIELD — The city hopes to hire an outside consultant for no more than $50,000 to study the needs of the fire territory, an entity that’s strapped for cash and reportedly understaffed by 16 firefighters.
On Wednesday, the Greenfield City Council approved on first reading an additional appropriation to not exceed $50,000 from the Local Option Income Tax Fund, or LOIT — money that’s earmarked for public safety. Those funds will be spent on a needs assessment and evaluation of the Greenfield Fire Territory.
Council members will have to vote on the ordinance on second and third readings in order for it to fully pass.
Members of the Hancock County Professional Firefighters, the union organization representing local career firefighters, have previously asked the city council to find a way to hire 16 additional firefighters for the department. Union leaders said more personnel would align it better with industry standards outlined by the National Fire Protection Agency.
The national agency says a minimum of 14 firefighters are needed to respond to a fire in a single-family home, and at least 28 are needed for a larger structure fire. It’s common in Greenfield for 10 firefighters to protect the territory at a time, said Jason Davis, president of the county’s firefighter union. The Greenfield department currently has 49 firefighters — five administrators as well as a 44-member full-time crew.
Once the ordinance is fully approved, Greenfield Mayor Chuck Fewell said he’ll assemble a committee to research the type of outside consultant. He hopes to receive four or five proposals for the needs assessment. Fewell said working with a third party is a “fair way of evaluating what we need.”
“I can move on this now to help us, help the firemen, help us all come to a resolution, and (the consultants) come to a conclusion of what I need,” Fewell said.
Greenfield Fire Chief James Roberts said he agrees that it’s important to receive input on the department from an outside point of view. Roberts said that group would look at the efficiency of the territory differently than someone locally and would give the department “insight on what to change.”
The consultant, Roberts said, would examine the territory’s staffing, number and locations of stations, efficiency of the department’s resources and all other gametes of local fire prevention.
