By Elizabeth Dubrulle
Correspondent

Tensions appear to be high between the Goffstown Fire Department and the town government as voters go to the polls on March 8 to vote on three warrant articles concerning the town’s emergency services.

At issue are the town's two ambulances, the possibility of manning one fire station in town around the clock, and the purchase of at least one new fire truck.

At the recent deliberative session to discuss the articles that will appear on the March 8 ballot, firefighters appeared increasingly defensive about the state of emergency services in the town.

Ambulance services
Article 27, which concerns ambulance services, resulted from a petition submitted by Lt. Mark Lemay, a member of both the Goffstown and Manchester fire departments. Lemay drafted the petition in response to a suggestion made at a September selectmen's meeting to investigate privatizing the town's ambulance services.

The suggestion caused alarm among Goffstown firefighters, many of whom have spent hundreds of hours training to act as emergency medical personnel.

Goffstown Fire Chief Frank Carpentino is particularly concerned, and said the board never officially notified him that privatization was being considered. He said this deprived the fire department of the opportunity to make a case for keeping the town's ambulance services under the department's control.

Carpentino has many objections to privatization. Foremost among them is the detrimental effect that losing the town's two ambulances would have on the rest of the fire department.

The EMS (Emergency Medical Services) typically turns a profit for the fire department, generating twice as much revenue as it costs to run. This revenue is used to support other aspects of fire services.

In addition, Carpentino said, the loss of EMS will hamper the department's ability to hire competitively, as most firefighters seek positions where they can use all the skills for which they have trained, which includes medical services for the vast majority of them.

"You take away EMS," Carpentino said, "and you'll lose about, at a rough guess, 75 percent of skilled personnel."

Furthermore, the extensive training in medical services already completed by existing fire department employees will all go to waste.

"You'll lose those skills if you don't use those skills," Carpentino added.

He is also quick to point out the detrimental effect private ambulance services would have for the town, as well.

Although initially private ambulance services may appear cheaper, Carpentino said that hidden costs are a real danger. Once it's private, he said, all services are negotiated.

"Everything is extra," he said. "If you want the ambulance stationed in town rather than in a neighboring community, it costs more. If you want a higher level of personnel, it costs more. If you want shorter response times, it costs more. Taxpayers have to decide what they're willing to pay and what they will accept for services."

Around-the-clock manned fire station
Article 28 calls for the board of selectment to present a plan to keep one of Goffstown's three fire stations manned 24 hours a day, seven days a week. Currently, none of the town's fire stations is manned at night or on weekends and is instead covered by on-call emergency personnel.

Response times at night or on weekends are typically about nine minutes, or nearly double what they are on business days. The result of another petition submitted by Lemay, the article calls for the plan to be submitted to voters in 2006.

This plan would be in addition to a proposal submitted by the fire department to the board of selectmen in July 2004 that evaluated logistical changes and the budgetary impact of the 24/7 change. The around-the-clock force would require the hiring of additional firefighters and the renovation of an existing fire station to house them.

The fire department's recommendation was that the station in the Village be staffed around the clock, as that station is the most centrally located. On-call firefighters would still cover the East Goffstown and Pinardville stations, but their efforts would be aided by the staff at the Village station.

Although the suggestion to man one fire station around the clock has been lobbied by several Goffstown fire chiefs over the years, Carpentino said that recent growth makes the move even more important for the town.

"Such a change," he said, "will seriously reduce response times at night and on weekends and will lead to a significant increase in the level ofservice that the department can provide to the community."

Manchester, Hooksett, and Bedford all currently have around-the-clock coverage.

New fire truck
Lemay's final petition produced Article 29, which calls for the town to raise $385,000 for the purchase of a new fire truck. Funding for another fire truck has already been specified in the new budget, but this article is designed to ensure that the fire department receives funds for the new truck even if the budget does not garner voter approval.

Neither the selectmen nor the budget committee approves of the petition. Fire department officials maintain that at least one new truck is desperately needed to replace two trucks that have recently been taken out of service due to their poor condition.

When Carpentino became fire chief in 2003, he ordered an evaluation of the entire Goffstown fleet by an independent consultant. The consultant gave Engine No. 5 the lowest rating, citing massive internal rot as the critical undermining defect for the truck, which was promptly removed from service and replaced by a reserve truck, Engine No. 2. The town mechanic and the state department of transportation later concurred with the independent consultant.

Last year, the town budget included nearly half of the funds required to purchase a new truck, with the remaining funds included in this year's budget. In the meantime, Engine No. 2 encountered its own problems.

With major engine trouble, Carpentino knew the truck had only a limited life span, and he was recently forced to remove it from service as well.

Town officials believe the truck should be repaired, which Carpentino said will cost about $30,000.

Instead, he advocated replacing the vehicle altogether, pointing out that both engines date back to the 1970s and are bound to have other major problems in the near future.

"We're just trying to maintain the fleet," Carpentino said.

Deputy Fire Chief Mark Hurley said that is becoming 0 increasingly difficult, due to the fleet's overall age.

"Remember, every year (replacing the two trucks) gets put off, the other trucks are getting older, too," he said.

Neither the chairman of the board of the selectmen nor the chairman of the budget committee returned phone calls requesting comment on this story.