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Fire chief seeks part-time EMS coordinator, raises overtime staffing questions and details mutual-aid patterns
Summary
At the Jan. 22 budget hearing the fire chief proposed a part-time EMS coordinator position to expand in-house training, outlined paramedic training costs, and presented data on overtime, mutual aid and 2024 call volumes.
The Merrimack Fire Department told the Town Council on Jan. 22 that it wants a part-time EMS coordinator and that the department’s overtime budget and staffing model require further analysis.
The fire chief described a proposed part-time EMS coordinator position (roughly 24 hours per week) to help manage EMS certifications, in-house training and day-to-day operational oversight. The chief said the part-time coordinator would allow the department to reduce reliance on outside trainers over time and better tailor training to observed field weaknesses; the council and chief discussed a first-year cost roughly comparable to other part-time paramedic pay (about $21 an hour in the presentation) and the possibility of increasing pay as the position proves its value.
The chief also reviewed the department’s paramedic-training support program: the town typically budgets about $14,000 per candidate to support paramedic training (classroom and clinical components). The department currently has four paramedics on staff and two employees in training; the chief said paramedic training is a multi-year investment that can take 18–24 months plus field time before a new hire is fully experienced.
On operations and overtime, the chief and town staff highlighted a recurring concern: overtime costs have remained elevated since the department added positions under a prior staffing plan. The chief presented calendar-year 2024 call data: Merrimack handled 3,034 calls in 2024, of which 648 (about 21%) occurred between 11 p.m. and 7 a.m. The chief and staff discussed different ways to budget overtime and whether the department should aim for a consistent 11- or 12-person shift strength or accept lower staffing levels and fewer overtime backfills. Councilors asked for more analysis, including a multi-year overtime chart and scenarios showing budget impacts of staffing to 12 and allowing the on-shift total to drop to 11 or 10 when vacancies occur.
The chief also presented mutual-aid information: Merrimack requested or supplied mutual aid hundreds of times in the referenced period (examples given on the record included the town sending mutual aid 97 times with some calls canceled en route and receiving aid about 86 times with some canceled requests). Staff provided estimated drive-time metrics from a central point in town to nearby mutual-aid providers (Nashua ~13 minutes, Bedford ~19 minutes, Londonderry ~17 minutes) to illustrate time-to-arrival for outside resources. Councilors asked staff to produce overtime trend charts and alternative staffing scenarios for the Jan. 29 deliberation session.
The chief also discussed capital equipment timelines: the aerial ladder unit is in service after training and testing; new ambulances and apparatus costs have risen substantially and the department is working with capital-reserve planning to account for higher chassis and outfitting costs.
