Mutual interests: Norfolk County fire departments depend on regional aid system

A system implemented many years ago as a way to help neighboring communities with fire and medical emergencies has become overused by understaffed fire departments throughout the county.

The Norfolk County Mutual Aid system allows fire departments from one town to respond to an emergency in another town.

At face value, the system works well, with most departments either delivering or receiving mutual aid on a daily basis.

A rising hurdle for the program is that in recent years more and more often multiple calls are occurring simultaneously. With most departments either understaffed or minimally staffed, officials said, there has been a substantial increase in their need for outside help.

Sharon Fire, for example, has just five men per shift, the lowest number in the area.

One firefighter covers dispatch, two cover the ambulance and two man the engine. With just one ambulance and one engine, the department has to cover 25 square-miles including I-95 from the Foxboro line to the Canton line.

"Once we respond (to a call that far) we are no longer available to the community of Sharon," said Sharon Fire Chief Dennis Mann.

If the call is a false alarm or another town gets there first, the ambulance and engine will return to the station or can immediately be re-directed to another incident.

If they handle the emergency and transport a patient, they are unavailable for other calls for possibly up to an hour, said Mann. Every time that happens, the dispatcher tries to call in off-duty firefighters to respond to the station in case another call comes in. Because one-quarter of the department lives outside the recall area, it isn't always possible to bring in staff, Mann said.

In that situation, when a second call comes in, the department has to call for mutual aid.

Through a written contract, all of the cities and towns in Norfolk County are under agreement to send resources to help a neighboring community if they have those resources available. If they don't have the resources, the town in need is directed to contact the next town on the list for help.

Stoughton Fire, for example, usually has enough men to staff two ambulances and two engines. Contractually, they are obligated to have nine men per shift, but when funding is available, Stoughton Fire Chief David Jardin maintains 11 men per shift.

"It is better for the safety of the firefighters responding to calls and for the community," said Jardin.

He said the town of Stoughton, because of size and number of incidents, actually warrants a 16-man shift, or at least a minimum of 13 staff per shift.

In August, through the mutual aid agreement, a Stoughton ambulance responded to a call on Massapoag Avenue in Sharon. The ambulance arrived 11 minutes after the 911 call was logged. A Sharon Fire engine with paramedics was on scene within two minutes of the call. The paramedics took care of the patient while awaiting the ambulance for transport to Norwood Hospital.

Because most local fire departments now have many paramedics on staff, in fact all of Stoughton's firefighters are paramedics, said Jardin, "patients receive the exact same care (as if the ambulance responded first) except for the delay in the ride to the hospital."

And, he added, because of the mutual aid system, all those with emergency needs will be "taken care of."

Once a town agrees to send resources to another town, they are committed to doing it even if they get a call a moment later from within their own town. If they can't handle that second call because their resources are tied up, they too have to call on another community for assistance.

The more understaffed departments are, the more of a burden it puts on the mutual aid system.

"It used to be that when we were out on a call, we would be worrying about a second call that might come in … now we worry about what we will do when the third and fourth call come in," said Jardin.

In Sharon, sometimes one call can tie up all of the department's staff.

For example, a one-car accident with a person trapped inside would require both the ambulance and engine, all of Sharon's immediate resources, Mann said.

He cited a day recently when the Sharon department had nine calls within a six-hour period. In addition to requesting mutual aid from other towns, the chief had to call in off-duty firefighters. Ultimately he ended up paying staff for 30 hours of overtime.

The last two house fires that happened in Sharon occurred when the town's ambulance was transporting a patient to Norwood Hospital. With only two available crew, they had to immediately request mutual aid and call in off-duty personnel.

The federal recommendation, said Mann, is to have 13 men at a fire.

"For us, it is all about how fast we can get 13 men to that scene," said Mann.

Recently, Stoughton had five ambulance calls in a two-hour period.

"We simply can't handle that with what we have," said Jardin.

Both of Stoughton's ambulances were used and they called in help from Canton, Easton and Sharon.

Mutual aid has become so prevalent that most departments have invested in GPS systems for their ambulances and engines. Finding out-of-town locations is not always easy, said the chiefs.

"Any minute saved in an emergency situation is valuable," added Stoughton Fire Deputy Chief Mark Dolloff.

In another effort to save "even a minute," said Mann, local fire chiefs spearheaded a program a few years ago to develop a regionalized dispatch center.

Any 911 call in the county would be sent directly to the dispatch center, who would immediately know which departments had available resources.

"A regional dispatch would know who is busy and who is not busy and could immediately send the closest available resources to the emergency," said Mann.

Financing for the equipment, said Mann, has already been granted, but the chiefs are awaiting legislation to allow the center to pass. There currently is one regional dispatch center in Barnstable, which handles about 10 communities, said Mann.

If the center is created it would immediately benefit Sharon because they could eliminate their dispatch position tand add one more to emergency response, said Mann.

Both fire chiefs regularly report that incident numbers are increasing and that there is a need to hire additional staff.

"Unfortunately there is only so much money to go around," said Jardin.

"If they don't have the tax revenue, their hands are tied," added Mann.

A reason why, both men said, they are thankful for the mutual aid system.

Sharon Town Administrator Ben Puritz added, "Sharing of resources through mutual aid agreements is of benefit to the entire county in terms of the delivery of emergency response resources."