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Residents and chiefs press Torrington to staff East Side firehouse
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Summary
Residents, a union representative and the fire chief urged the Board of Public Safety to staff the Torrington volunteer station for daytime coverage and to increase East Side staffing, citing response times of 8–12 minutes and recent fires that officials say could have received faster intervention.
Residents, a union leader and fire officials told the Torrington Board of Public Safety on March 4 that the city needs more staffed coverage on the East Side and that the Torrington volunteer firehouse should be converted to a manned station.
“I’m here tonight because of my growing concern for the safety of our firefighters and the residents of Torrington,” resident Rebecca Davis said, asking the board to open the Torrington volunteer fire department building as a manned station. “With response times to the East end of town stretching to 8 to 12 minutes, early intervention is no longer feasible for this part of town.”
Why it matters: Board members and officials said longer response times raise the risk of greater property damage and danger to both residents and firefighters. Chief Tripp and others described recent reliance on mutual aid from Drakeville and overtime call-backs to cover East Side needs.
Union vice president Elliot Bickford, who identified himself as vice president of Local 1567, told the board the union’s recent social-media messaging was not intended to damage relations with city officials and said the union and city are working together on a fiscally responsible approach to East Side coverage.
Fire Chief Tripp described a recent Farmstead Lane call with an initial response of about “8 and a half minute[s]” and said an engine located on the East Side likely would have arrived in roughly four minutes. “I truly believe that if we had an engine inside Torrington at that time of night ... would have been 4 minutes,” Chief Tripp said, arguing earlier intervention can limit fire growth.
Tripp said the administration is pursuing three steps to enable staffing at the Torrington volunteer building: completing an interior partition wall to separate apparatus areas from living spaces, finishing procurement, and completing construction. He said the city hopes to begin daytime staffing by May–June, with the possibility of full 24-hour quarters later, subject to procurement and budget decisions. Mayor Espino told the board that the city council unanimously approved the partition wall at its recent meeting.
Several public commenters, including Sharon Wagner and Glenn Royles, praised volunteer firefighters and urged officials to preserve and support volunteers while moving toward staffed coverage. Wagner noted long-term volunteer attrition and urged the board to consider shifting some overtime spending into additional staffing; Royles warned against cutting volunteer resources and cited cost differences between volunteer and fully staffed operations.
What happens next: No formal vote to staff the East Side was taken at the March 4 meeting. Chief Tripp said overtime and budget proposals related to East Side staffing will appear in his upcoming budget package; the mayor and chief said the timing depends on procurement and council approvals.
Ending: The board recessed into executive session earlier in the meeting for a separate personnel matter; the public discussion about East Side staffing concluded with the board noting ongoing work on the partition wall and budget planning.
