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Fire Chiefs, Labor Groups Back Bill to Centralize Technical‑Rescue Teams Under State Oversight
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Summary
Officials from the Fire Chiefs Association, Professional Firefighters of Massachusetts and the Technical Rescue Coordinating Council urged the joint committee to pass legislation that would standardize training, equipment and funding for regional technical‑rescue teams by bringing them under the Department of Fire Services.
Fire chiefs and firefighter representatives told the Joint Committee on Public Safety and Homeland Security on Oct. 11 that Massachusetts should centralize its regional technical‑rescue teams under the Department of Fire Services and a statewide council to standardize response, training and funding.
"This will not only help with coordination amongst those teams, it'll assist with training... and it will assist with compensation as well as equipment purchases," said Chief Chris Nardelli, speaking for the Fire Chiefs Association of Massachusetts during testimony supporting the technical‑rescue bill (filed as House Bill 2565 and Senate Bill 1742).
Speakers said the proposal would mirror the state HAZMAT model and create a council to advise the state fire marshal on operations, training standards and resource allocation. Patrick Purcell, president of the Fire Chiefs Association of Massachusetts and chief in Westborough, told the committee the effort has been under discussion for years and that earlier work in 2018 created a steering committee and standardized some practices; the bill would be the next step to formalize statewide technical‑rescue capabilities.
Ian McGregor, a Melrose firefighter and vice chair of the Massachusetts Coordinating Technical Rescue Council, and Paul Jakes of the Professional Firefighters of Massachusetts asked the committee to consider suggested edits but expressed broad support. "We are at the point where... it is time that we need to pass this piece of legislation so that it can truly make it a mirror of our HAZMAT response system," McGregor said.
Supporters told lawmakers that technical rescue incidents often present immediate life‑safety threats requiring rapid, coordinated responses across county and district boundaries; they contrasted that urgency with many HAZMAT responses, where mitigation sometimes allows more time for planning. Committee members voiced support for regionalization and standardization during the exchange.
The committee did not take a vote. Fire chiefs and firefighter groups said the bill would reduce the financial burden on individual communities and improve statewide readiness for events such as severe weather and complex rescues.
Why it matters: Proponents argue that centralizing standards, training and funding will reduce response disparities across Massachusetts and provide smaller departments with timely access to highly specialized technical‑rescue resources without bearing the full cost individually.
