By Andrew Brophy
Connecticut Post Online (Bridgeport, Connecticut)
Copyright 2006 MediaNews Group, Inc.
All Rights Reserved
FAIRFIELD, Conn. — Joseph Olzacki remembers raging fires at the old Bullard Co. foundry and Fairway Beef in the 1980s and aiding rescue-and-recovery efforts after the L’Ambiance apartments under construction in Bridgeport collapsed in 1987.
“Our thing is, when somebody calls us, we go. We don’t say why or whatever. If we’re dispatched, and the request is there, we go,” said Olzacki, a 26-year member of the Stratfield Volunteer Fire Department and its former chief.
The volunteer fire department, one of two in town, dates to 1920, 37 years before the town introduced its first paid firefighting force. The Southport Volunteer Fire Department traces its roots to 1895.
But the volunteer departments have recently had days they’d rather forget. The town’s Fire Commission in the fall put both out of service because they failed to file paperwork that proved their members were up-to-date on training and medically fit to serve.
The Stratfield department quickly returned to service, and 10 of its 15 active volunteers now have “black hat,” or active, status, said Christopher Burlant, the department’s chief.
But the Southport unit remains out of service and its lawsuit against the town, contending the town is obligated to dispatch its volunteer firefighters on calls, is pending in Bridgeport Superior Court.
The Stratfield department operates out of Fire Station 3 on Jackman Avenue, Southport out of Fire Station 2 on Main Street.
Paid firefighters staff both stations around the clock and have their own fire trucks alongside the fire vehicles owned by the volunteers.
The volunteer departments operate in similar ways, though Southport’s is more independent from the town -- in reality and behavior.
Unlike Stratfield, Southport owns its fire station and fire truck, known as Squad 14, which the volunteer department bought with donations and a federal grant in 2002.
Also unlike Stratfield, Southport volunteers did not consult career firefighters about what type of truck to get, and they pay the cost of maintaining it.
Southport’s fire truck has a tank to hold water, but the tank is much smaller than the 1,500-gallon tanks on fire pumpers used by career firefighters. That means it’s not possible to transfer water from a town-owned pumper to Southport’s Squad 14, according to career firefighters.
The town owns Stratfield’s fire truck, which was purchased with donations and town money in 1988. The town pays maintenance on Rescue 15 and agreed to transfer ownership to the Stratfield volunteers on request, said Michael J. Farkas, president of the Stratfield department.
Stratfield’s rescue truck is more valuable to career firefighters than Southport’s truck because, in addition to equipment normally found on rescue trucks, Rescue 15 carries a compressor that refills breathing pack bottles and an extensive lighting system, according to career firefighters.
The Fire Commission ordered Southport’s volunteer department out of service last September after Peter Kopko, its chief, had refused for months to provide documents to town officials that verified his firefighters were up to date on training, according to Town Attorney Richard Saxl.
The commission ordered Stratfield’s department out of service about three weeks later, but it returned two days later when Burlant gave Fire Chief Richard Felner the required documents on two volunteers, the minimum required to staff Rescue 15.
Olzacki, Burlant and Kopko didn’t want to discuss the dispute between volunteer firefighters and the town, and Roberto Lucheme, the Southport volunteers’ lawyer, did not return a call for comment.
But it appears the Southport volunteer firefighters’ view of themselves as independent from the town’s Fire Department contributed to the clash.
The dispute erupted just after the Southport Volunteer Fire Department distributed a fundraising letter that said it receives no funding from the town.
Wayne Parks, a career firefighter, objected to the letter, saying the town has provided equipment to Southport’s volunteers and also covers Fire Station 2’s maintenance and utility costs.
Career firefighters at the time also were impatient with the inability of town officials to reach an agreement with the volunteer departments that spelled out the volunteers’ authority and responsibilities.
The agreement has been years in the making, with the town and Southport volunteers creating and rejecting drafts.
Saxl said he is working toward the “global settlement,” but added only a lack of training and inspection of Squad 14 are preventing Southport’s volunteers from returning to service.
“As of this date, no volunteers from Southport have completed all the requirements, as required by the town of Fairfield and the Fire Commission,” Deputy Fire Chief Arthur Reid said Thursday afternoon.
Meanwhile, Stratfield’s volunteers try to have Rescue 15 in service from 6 p.m. to 6 a.m. every day, Burlant said.
“One of our biggest problems is the kids nowadays don’t have the same mindset of when we joined,” said Angus Maciver, a longtime volunteer in Stratfield’s department. “When we joined, we used to do one, two, three nights a week. Now, we’re having trouble with getting people to do one night a week.”
Dispatchers in the town’s Emergency Communications Center determine when Stratfield’s volunteer firefighters are sent on calls, based on the seriousness of the call and how busy career firefighters are.
If a fire is within Stratfield’s territory, Rescue 15, one of only two rescue trucks in town, is usually sent because dispatchers send two engine companies, a ladder company and a rescue company to a fire, Olzacki said.
If a major fire happens during the day when Rescue 15 is not in service, volunteers can get the truck in service within 12 to 15 minutes, Olzacki said.
A Stratfield volunteer monitors the emergency communications radio and puts out a page to volunteers if he hears something serious, Olzacki said.
“People will leave their jobs during the day is what happens basically,” Farkas said.
Rescue 15 also responds to less critical calls, such as automatic alarms, motor vehicle lockouts, downed wires and flooded basements where the water level is high enough to pose a hazard to a home’s electrical system, Olzacki and Burlant said.
Meanwhile, the town is trying to get Southport’s Volunteer Fire Department back in service, Saxl said.
The town recently scheduled a hazardous-materials training class, totaling 32 hours over four days, for Southport’s volunteers, and rescheduled one of the dates as a courtesy, Saxl said.
Southport’s volunteers haven’t returned to service because they were more deficient in training than Stratfield’s volunteers. Southport’s fire truck also still needs to be weighed and inspected to ensure it’s safe and volunteers have the proper license to drive it, Saxl said.
Kopko said volunteers are still in Fire Station 2 most evenings. “We have our meetings. We have our training. Our training is ongoing,” Kopko said.
The training required to become a volunteer firefighter can take a year for someone new and refresher courses are needed, Olzacki said.
Volunteers need to have a “Firefighter 1 certificate” and be certified as an emergency medical technician or medical response technician.
Volunteers also need to take classes in subjects that include hazardous materials, extrication, driving a fire truck and the use of firefighters’ equipment.
Olzacki and Kopko don’t think the two volunteer fire departments ever will be permanently out of service.
Volunteers manned all five fire stations in town before 1957, Farkas said. “The two departments now just happened to be the ones that sustained members,” he said.