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Source: Town of Westwood. Pictured are the opening pages of the long-awaited operational report of Westwood Fire Department, commissioned by Westwood Select Board. It was posted to the town's web site on June 15, 2023.
6-25-2023 1:38am
In Westwood Fire Dept. Operational Study, Criterion Associates Recommends Increased Staffing, But No Third Fire Apparatus
Darlene Cancell
Editor
The long-awaited operational study of Westwood Fire Department (WFD), commissioned by Westwood Select Board, is posted on the town’s website as of June 15th, and key recommendations of Criterion Associates’ June 2023 Analysis of Fire Department Operations are that:
(1) The town should add several officer level positions (lieutenants);
(2) Service from two fire stations is necessary to support response time;
(3) Minimum staffing across the two fire stations should be at least 11 personnel per shift (in contrast to the current practice of 8 to 9 personnel per shift); and
(4) Current WFD workload does not necessitate a third, staffed fire apparatus.
The operational study does not comment on what, if any, facility/building improvements are needed.
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If adopted, the staffing recommendations of Criterion Associates would change the way that WFD is currently managed and how it operates. The report recommends adding several leadership level positions, and would divide resources differently between Station 1 (on High Street) and Station 2 (on Washington Street).
According to the study, on a given shift, WFD currently staffs Station 1 on High Street with one captain, while it staffs Station 2 with one company officer, a lieutenant, in a limited number of leadership positions. Criterion Associates recommends that, “The Westwood Fire Department should be authorized and funded to add four (4) additional Lieutenants to provide for company officers at both stations.” The recommendation would result in each shift having one captain, two lieutenants (Westwood Minute presumes this means at least one lieutenant at each station) and eight firefighters on staff.
The following chart is reproduced from the operational study and describes “Current deployment” at WFD:
Source: Town of Westwood, https://www.townhall.westwood.ma.us. In a chart taken from page 3 of an Analysis of Fire Department Operations by Criterion Associates, the current allocation of Westwood Fire Department resources between Station 1 on High Street and Station 2 on Washington Street is described.The study recommends that Station 1 and Station 2 each should be enabled to deploy an ambulance with medic. In contrast, the above chart’s description of current WFD operations seems to describe a situation where the town’s two ambulances and medics tend to be deployed mostly or exclusively from Station 1.
Criterion Associates recommends that cross-staffing should be limited to staffing fire apparatus (e.g., brush trucks, boats) that are not needed on the front line. In other words, firefighters should not be pulled off an engine to cross-staff an ambulance; the ambulance should have its own assigned staff, separate from engine staff.
As town officials and residents digest the findings of Criterion Associate’s operational report of WFD, the town's contract negotiations with the fire union appear to continue.
Select Board members Marianne LeBlanc Cummings, Robert Gotti, and Joseph Previtera at a June 21st meeting have delegated authority, through the end of June, to Town Administrator Christopher Coleman and Town Counsel Pat Ahearn to sign a Memorandums of Agreement (MOA) with the fire union. Substantive terms of the MOA were not specified; however, Mr. Coleman proposed that signing an MOA would be done with prior consultation with Select Board.
A presentation on Criterion Associates' operation study and feasibility study, along with a public input opportunity, will be held on July 12, 2023. That is also the date of Select Board’s next meeting, to held at 6:00 p.m. on Zoom.
