By Joseph A. Curtatone

(The opinions and views expressed in the commentaries of The Somerville News belong solely to the authors of those commentaries and do not reflect the views or opinions of The Somerville News, its staff or publishers.)

The City of Somerville recently received word from Washington that our Fire Department would be receiving an $843,400 matching grant under the Staffing for Adequate Fire and Emergency Response (SAFER) program administered by U.S. Department of Homeland Security.  We immediately announced that, starting in July of this year, we would be using that money to hire eight new firefighters.

Obviously, a one-time matching grant doesn’t mean that the federal government will be subsidizing these new positions forever, but it does provide crucial start-up funding to build long-term departmental resources.  But there are competing views about how best to deploy those resources – and a healthy debate about how best to reshape and enhance the Somerville Fire Department in order to embrace new technologies and to meet the new challenges of a changing urban environment.

We should, therefore, be especially grateful to our Washington delegation – and particularly Congressman Michael Capuano and Senator Ted Kennedy – not only for helping the city secure a major public safety grant, but for delivering those resources at a time when we are mapping the future of our fire department and its capabilities.

Somerville already enjoys a very high standard of firefighting service from a well-trained and well-equipped department. As you might expect in a city of only 4.1 square miles and five fire stations, our major incident response times are among the best in the region and well within the recommended guidelines. Our equipment is in solid shape: we took delivery on a new ladder truck last spring, we recently took delivery on a new command vehicle and three new (hybrid) fire inspection vehicles; and we will be deploying a new pumper later this year. Since I took office, we have also provided our firefighters with all-new bunker gear and exercise equipment.

But there is always room for improvement, and there can be no question that the department, and the public it serves, will benefit from a comprehensive reassessment of its mission and resources.

For example, and as Chief Kevin Kelleher reported at the Board of Aldermen’s Jan. 30 Public Safety Committee, the Fire Department is running a $300,000 overtime deficit.  There are many legitimate reasons that firefighters miss their regular shifts – and good reasons that the deportment needs to call in off-duty firefighters. But it’s clear that we can manage these costs more efficiently with additional staffing – which is one of the most important reasons to increase the overall size of the department. (Adding more firefighters also creates more frequent opportunities to detach personnel from their regular duties in order to receive specialized training.)

In addition, the hiring of eight more firefighters gives us the opportunity to explore the potential for developing and deploying a specialized rescue and/or hazardous materials (hazmat) company equipped with an appropriate new vehicle.

It would be a mistake, however, to look at these changes, or any other improvements at the fire department, in isolation. As we have learned from the development and implementation of our comprehensive reorganization plan for the Somerville Police, there are tremendous advantages to bringing in a highly qualified outside advisory group to advise the city on how to plan for the future in the area of public safety, and to map out a long-term plan to get the most from our public safety dollars, adopt best practices from around the region and nation, and embrace the best new technologies to improve our capabilities and measure our performance.

To that end, I am moving immediately to convene a fire department advisory group to develop a set of long-term recommendations about how to improve our staffing patterns, command structure, management practices, equipment and capabilities in order to meet the needs of a changing city and a changing fire-rescue environment. This new panel will include experts in the public safety and fire safety field, as well as distinguished representatives from other fire and public safety agencies, and from the Somerville community.

It’s truly wonderful to have received federal dollars to enhance our fire department – and there’s no question that we’ll be expanding the ranks of the department and adding new equipment over time. But, as we have been reminded by our successful police reorganization effort, we need to make sure that we make staffing and equipment decisions in the context of an overall strategic plan. The creation of an advisory group is in the best interest both of our department and of the community it has always served with courage and skill.