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Waterford's fire director urges phased staffing and data tracking as budget grows
Summary
Fire Director Chris described a restructuring to unify five legacy companies into a municipal department, requested funding for an Assistant Chief and added firefighters, and said the department is implementing scheduling software to clarify overtime drivers. The board approved the FY27 fire budget as presented.
The town’s fire director told the Board of Selectmen the department is at a turning point and seeking measured investments to transform legacy volunteer companies into a single municipal fire department capable of consistent, 24/7 coverage.
Chris said the FY27 request will fund an Assistant Chief position (created previously but not funded) and add full‑time firefighter posts with a goal of reaching eight firefighters per platoon (24 full‑time across three platoons) as hires are completed. He cautioned that a large projected overtime increase in FY27 partly reflects historical recordkeeping that did not differentiate replacement shifts, scheduled overtime, and training; the department has begun using scheduling software to produce clearer data on why overtime is occurring.
The director framed the request as a multi‑year effort to stabilize operations, improve training and inspections (NFPA compliance) and build a reliable asset‑management rhythm for stations and fleet. He asked for the board’s patience with a phased approach and committed to quarterly reports on hires, overtime drivers and performance indicators. The board approved the fire‑services budget by voice vote and asked for follow‑up materials and quarterly updates.
Why it matters: Emergency response capacity and EMS coordination affect public safety and insurance considerations. The department said the new roles will provide supervisory structure and support implementation of professional scheduling and data tracking; the transcript shows board interest in understanding overtime drivers and the department’s longer‑term staffing target but numeric vote counts and certain financial line details were not read into the record.
Closing: Chris committed to running down lines, improving internal data collection and returning to the board with scheduled updates; the board approved the FY27 fire budget as presented, and the department will begin hiring and implement the scheduling and reporting steps it described.
