Whalen Proposes Increased Fire Department Staffing

Seekonk Fire Chief Shaun Whalen has recommended assigning 13 firefighters per shift, an increase over the current department staffing model.

Whalen appeared at the February 18 Select Board meeting to outline the proposed changes.

There are five or six firefighters assigned per shift at Station One, the headquarters at the Public Safety building on Taunton Avenue. There are four or five firefighters assigned per shift at the Banna Station on Pine Street.

The Fire Department has 45 firefighters in total, with 10 firefighters per group.

With the increase in staffing, Whalen promised a minimum manning of nine firefighters per shift.

The cost of hiring 12 new employees, including four new Captains and backfilling four Lieutenants, as well as capital needs, adds up to a total of $2.9 million.

A new engine is needed to replace the aging E2. That expense is $1 million. A new rescue will cost $525,000.

Whalen noted the budget increase for the department for the next fiscal year would be 11 percent if the new firefighters were approved. That figure would decrease to eight percent for the following fiscal year.

Town Administrator Shawn Cadime predicted a budget deficit of $3.6 million for the next fiscal year if the fire department added staffing. The deficit would increase to $5.5 million the following fiscal year.

“We’re going to have difficult conversations with other departments,” Cadime said. “These are big numbers, so they’re going to come from either public safety or the schools. That’s the reality of the situation. I don’t think anybody is saying the firefighters don’t deserve it. We just need to figure out what that number is. Public safety is getting more and more expensive. Our revenues are just not keeping up. There’s not a whole lot of additional revenues that we can find.”

Cadime insisted he’s always been understanding of the staffing needs of the fire department.

“(Whalen) has never once come to me saying he needed additional funds and not received it. I can go down the laundry list of what I’ve given to the fire department. If (people) are going to try to suggest that I’m not supportive of the fire department and that I don’t give the fire department the resources that they need, that’s just inaccurate and not a good picture of what’s really taking place.”

Board member Michael Healy, who was a previous Fire Chief, said it was up to the board to figure out a way to fulfill Whalen’s staffing plan.

“When politics gets involved in public safety, people get hurt,” Healy explained. “People die because we make bad decisions up here because we don’t know your department, we don’t know what it takes to run it. The number one priority is to protect the firefighters of this community. They’ve been (operating) at an unsafe level for way too long.”

Healy told Whalen the staffing increases wouldn’t happen immediately.

“Those are big numbers to overcome. This problem you inherited. This has been an ongoing problem with that fire department. You’re not going to fix it overnight. You’ve got my full support. Thank you for your plan.”

Chair Michelle Hines dismissed any comparisons to other town’s fire departments.

“I support Seekonk. I care about Seekonk. We are not Norton. We are not North Attleboro or Mansfield. Together, we’ll improve every department in this town,” Hines said.