Town Council workshop hears fire department on staffing, response times and mutual aid

The Town Council held a workshop Feb. 10 with Cumberland Fire Department leaders to review the department's operations, call trends and staffing needs.

Fire department leaders told the council the department handled roughly 1,400 emergency calls in the last reported year and that concurrent incidents occur frequently, straining available crews. "We have two incidents going on at the same time about 27–28 percent of the time," said Andy Turicotte, deputy chief and firefighter-paramedic. He and Gerald Croce, a firefighter-EMT, walked through how those simultaneous calls and increased transports have affected service.

The department described its call mix as more heavily weighted to emergency medical services than structure fires, noting the community lacks large institutional facilities that other towns serve. "We are more EMS than fire," Turicotte said, explaining that many calls are emergency medical transports, lift assists and non-structure incidents. He identified a roughly 200-call increase year-over-year compared with the prior calendar year.

Nut graf: Fire leaders said limited full-time staffing, geography and frequent mutual-aid responses are preventing the department from meeting its response-time goals for high-acuity calls — and that the town should consider staged staffing increases and other options…