Lynnfield Fire Chief Glenn Davis presented his budget requests for the 2025 fiscal year at the Select Board meeting late last month, and the increase in requests shows a desperate need for new firefighters to help with higher call volumes.
Despite hiring eight new call firefighters in the past 18 months, they’ve lost 14 members.
“Our goals for the upcoming year are recruitment and retention of firefighters,” Davis said. “Continued attrition and turnover in the fire department is making it challenging to maintain the call division.”
Davis also explained that the department requires call firefighters to respond to at least 10% of calls for their services, which amounts to around 24 calls as their call volume is somewhere between 2300 and 2400 per month.
“A majority number of calls are being handled by a diminishing number of firefighters, causing burnout,” Davis said.
In the question and answer portion of the meeting, Select Board member Dick Dalton acknowledged that most of the public might not have known that the fire department handles medical calls needing ambulance services way more than calls regarding structure fires. Davis said that fire calls make up 30% of their volume, and EMS takes up 70%. With this information, Davis’ plans for the four new firefighters include assigning them to overnight rotating shifts. This allows for two people to handle the first emergency call, with two people left in the firehouse to be prepared for a potential next call, especially when turnaround times are higher than usual because nearby hospitals are also understaffed. Instead of meeting their goal of a 30-minute turnaround time for each call, it ends up being an hour.
“Our next closest hospitals are either MelroseWakefield or Lahey Hospital and Medical Center in Burlington, which is a little farther away, but they are all short-staffed,” Davis said. “So when we enter an emergency room, we’re not always being greeted and handled right away, and a lot of times we’re standing in a hallway waiting for a bed assignment.”
Davis also spoke about how the department gets revenue, and to do that, they utilize “mutual aid” to handle the high volume of calls that can’t be done in-house due to understaffing. They sometimes help other nearby communities, and they sometimes take help, which helps offset the salaries and other overhead costs.
Davis also announced that they have asked for a grant from the Federal Emergency Management Agency to help with staffing the four firefighters for three years.
Other than requesting salaries for four new firefighters, it also entails contractual increases and costs related to non-union staff.
