Bow fire Chief Mitchell Harrington got the green light for an extra $12,000 to $18,000 to hire a seventh full-time firefighter and lessen the department’s dependence on per diem firefighters.
The select board voted 4-0 at a recent meeting to approve the spending, which will cover retirement and benefits for the eight months remaining in the fiscal year.
The department has struggled to recruit part-time firefighters, losing potential hires to offers of full-time employment in other towns across the state. The shortage of part-time availability resulted in mounting overtime hours to cover those shifts, as well as excessively long shifts.
“The staffing shortage has caused employees to work 48 hours consecutively on 24 occasions in Bow alone. This does not take into account coming from or going to other employment,” Harrington wrote in an email. “This change will stop people from overworking, slow down the revolving door, and reduce overtime.”
(Nick Stoico can be reached at nstoico@cmonitor.com or on Twitter @NickStoico.)