By Greg Ellison

(Oct. 28, 2021) Berlin Fire officials discussed capital purchase requests during a quarterly update presented to the mayor and Town Council on Monday.

Fire Chief R.J. Rhode and President Dave Fitzgerald reviewed response times from July through September and budget needs.

Rhode said the average response time during the preceding three months was 3.47 minutes, which is far below the six-minute minimum required in Worcester County.

Fire company responses in town during July to Sept. totaled 58, which represented roughly 40 percent of all calls.

On the EMS side of operations, response times averaged under a minute at .97, which improves on the 1.27 minute rate during the prior three months.

EMS providers responded to 337 calls in town versus 312 out of town during July through Sept.

Looking at finances, Rhode said the fire department has undertaken numerous activities to solicit funds.

“We have done a few fundraisers,” he said. “We’ve taken parking donations for some of the events that have been held.”

Rhode also noted an annual fund drive letter was recently mailed to residents, along with other current ventures to generate financial support.

“Last [week], we had a Friday night dinner,” he said. “We’re trying a couple of those for some fundraisers.”

Upcoming expenses highlighted included replacing aging self contained breathing apparatus.

“The average age for SCBA right now is over 20 years old,” he said. “That’s costing us heavily more and more every year on repairs and replacement parts.”

Fitzgerald said precise costs for breathing apparatus remain unknown.

“The quote that we got in the past was about $450,000 to replace all of our SCBI apparatus,” he said.

Fitzgerald said the fire company is currently completing annual DOT inspections.

“We had to replace two of our four gas meters,” he said. “That was an unexpected expenditure for this year.”

Also, the fire company is hoping to blacktop the roughly two-acre grass parking lot used for overflow parking during town events.

Fitzgerald said the unpaved parking lot area usually is not used during rainy weather to avoid having vehicles getting bogged down in the mud. The company hopes to change that, depending on the cost.

“We don’t have estimated costs for that yet,” he said.

Capital funding was also requested for EMS services, including replacement ambulances at approximately $300,000 each.

“We have replacement ambulances due in 2025, 2027 and 2029,” he said.

Fitzgerald also highlighted an additional $115,000 previously provided by Worcester County for supplemental EMS personnel and the subsequent improvement in response times.

“We dropped that response time by 30 seconds,” he said. “That’s a big thing in our business.”