Acton Fire Department seeks more staffing, proposes fire prevention officer and pilot ALS changes

Acton Fire Chief Anita Arnham presented the department's FY26 budget request and operational priorities, telling the Select Board and Finance Committee that the department is running with vacancies, rising call volume and increasing apparatus maintenance costs and proposing targeted staffing and operational changes to improve service and reduce overtime.

Lede/nut graf

The chief said Acton currently budgets for 46 full-time positions but is operating with about 39 staffed firefighters because of seven vacancies. The department proposed two additional firefighter positions in FY26 (the manager reduced an earlier eight-person ask to two in the package presented) and requested a full-time fire prevention officer to take on code enforcement, plan review, and permit-driven inspections. Staff proposed funding the fire prevention officer from the building inspectors' revolving fund while the new fire prevention revolving fund builds fee revenue.

Why it matters

Acton's fire and emergency medical responses have trended upward; staff said the center graph in their budget book shows increases in emergency and medical calls over the past 10 years and more simultaneous requests for service. Staffing shortages have driven increased overtime: current overtime spending on fire was described as large and was cited as an item the department hopes to reduce by filling vacancies and adjusting deployment models.

Key details

- Current staffing: 46 FTEs budgeted (35 in general fund and 11 in the ambulance enterprise fund) but about 39 actual personnel on duty due to vacancies; seven vacancies were reported at the time of the workshop. - FY26 request: two new firefighter FTEs (reduced by the town manager from an initial eight-FTE request) and a proposed full-time fire prevention officer funded from the building inspectors' revolving fund in the near term. - Fire prevention officer duties: code enforcement, plan review, fire protection systems review, energy storage system compliance, permit issuance and inspections for alarms, hot work, special events, hazardous storage, and school safety inspections; staff said the position should become self-funded over time through permit and inspection fees. - EMS/ambulance operations: the department operates an ALS-coordinated ambulance enterprise fund with most paramedic staffing in the ambulance fund; the department described a pilot for operational reorganization (including the concept of a paramedic "fly car") to improve ALS coverage and reduce unnecessary ALS transport delays. - Mutual aid: outgoing mutual aid (responses to other towns) in the last year was 236 calls; incoming mutual aid to Acton was 161 calls. - Capital/maintenance: apparatus repair and certification costs rose sharply and are a major FY26 pressure.

Board questions and operational trade-offs

Board members asked whether adding staff would lower overtime and whether a fly-car (paramedic-only rapid response) model could be used to reduce ALS backlogs and avoid tying up paramedics on low-acuity transports. The chief said those operational models are under active review and that staffing shifts and contractual issues affect the pace of change; she said a fly-car had precedent in the region and could improve efficiency if implemented without stripping town coverage.

Budget page and next steps

Staff noted the fire prevention line items and the new fire prevention revolving fund are on the budget pages provided (fire prevention revolving fund page noted). The department plans to continue recruitment, complete a pilot operational model to improve ALS deployment, and pursue fee adjustments and permit revenue to support the prevention officer over time.

Ending

Chief Arnham asked the boards to consider the FY26 budget package as presented and signaled the department would return with data from pilot operations and recruitment updates.