Southington fire chief asks board to fund three hires after SAFER grant denial

Interim Fire Chief Scott Lee told the Southington Board of Finance that the department did not receive a recent SAFER grant and that town staffing falls short of peer benchmarks and National Fire Protection Association recommendations. "Our proposal for the remainder of fiscal year 26 is the hiring of 3 additional firefighters," Lee said during the board’s organizational meeting.

Lee outlined department demographics, volunteer trends and response-time data, saying the town had about 32 active firefighters and that national volunteer rosters have declined sharply. He cited turnout and travel-time benchmarks and said NFPA guidance and parts of the Code of Federal Regulations inform staffing needs. "These standards are part of how we determine staffing needs," Lee said, adding the department still relies heavily on volunteers.

Chief Lee presented cost estimates and timelines: he said the salary-and-benefits figure associated with the request is currently $129,603 per year and estimated a midyear onboarding cost of roughly $149,542 for the remainder of FY26 if hires are onboarded in February. He also recommended hiring four additional firefighters in the next fiscal year to staff Station 3 and requested an inspector/firefighter and a department mechanic in subsequent budget years.

Ed Costello, chair of the Fire Commission, asked the board to note the commission’s continued recommendation for the three hires. "The commission still recommends the need for the 3 additional," Costello said, citing a consultant master plan that used NFPA standards.

Public comments captured the debate. Resident Al Orso argued the town should not hire more firefighters until the department’s 24/72 shift and station assignments are re-examined: "We can't spend that kind of money… I would suggest no hiring of any now," he said. By contrast, volunteer Captain Andrew Rennie urged the board to accept Chief Lee’s data and increase staffing to ensure safer responses: "The numbers that Chief Lee put up there don't lie," Rennie said.

Board Chair John Leary made clear the item could not be acted on at the special meeting but asked members to meet with the chief and the fire commission and put the request on the December agenda. "We'll have it on our agenda, Chrissy, at the December meeting," Leary said. The board did not take a formal vote on funding at this session; members asked staff and commissioners to prepare cost and funding options for the next meeting.

Next steps: the chief’s request will be on the board’s December agenda for further discussion and for members to assess funding mechanisms and priorities.