By Joseph Edgerton
Staff Writer

Although the Goffstown Fire Department has the largest on-call force in the area, it is still hindered by the lack of a 24-hour firehouse.

The department has 15 full-time firefighters and 52 more on-call, but they are split between three stations; in East Goffstown, Goffstown Village and Pinardville. They are respectively known as Station 17, Station 18 and Station 19.

Chief Frank Carpentino explained how the firefighters typically respond to a call.

“The station is open from 6 a.m. to 6 p.m. daily, and is manned on the weekends and holidays from 7:30 a.m. to 5:30 p,m.,” he said. “It isn’t staffed at night; the on-call firefighters respond from their homes or businesses.”

On-call firefighters work as a supplementary force when the station is open, and as the main force when the station is closed. Unfortunately, because they are not at a central location, their response time can vary.

“When a tone goes out, anyone who is available responds to the station, waits for a crew to assemble, and then takes off,” said Carpentino. “The problem arises when people are either unavailable or don’t hear the alarm.”

Carpentino added that if the emergency dispatcher has not received a response within six minutes of the alarm, the department uses its mutual aid program.

“The page goes out to whatever company is affected,” he said. “If you’re available, you respond, and if not, you call dispatch.”

He added, “For someone calling in an emergency, the response time always seems worse than it is.”

Carpentino said that although Goffstown has never had a fire station manned 24 hours a day, he is in favor of a warrant article proposing to do so.

“I would love to have a 24-hour manned station, but it’s extremely important to keep the on-call force,” he said. “You can’t just do away with on-call personnel.”

Station 19 in Pinardville received the most emergency calls in 2004, according to reports filed by the fire department.

“It’s a congested area, there’s a higher population concentration, the college is nearby, and there’s Daniel Plummer Road, which has some industrial units,” said Carpentino.

In 2004, the fire department received 649 emergency calls, and EMS received 1,061.

Brenda Barss, who works as a department secretary, said there is no pattern or method to the calls.

“It’s hard to anticipate emergency calls,” she said. “We are still filing a few from 2004.”

An alarm time analysis from 2004 said that the highest amount of combined calls between Jan. 1 and Dec. 31, 2004, came in at 5 p.m.; 109 calls were made.

Goffstown has approved an article directing selectmen to prepare and present a plan that proposes 24-hour fire and EMS staffing of at least one fire station seven days a week.

The plan calls for a combined force that uses full-time and part-time firefighters with a work week not exceeding 45 hours. Carpentino said the board is currently calculating the cost of upgrades to an existing facility. The proposed plan will be presented as a part of Goffstown’s 2006 town budget.

Article 28 said the proposed plan to have a 24-hour manned station would have an effective date of July 1, 2006.