TRURO, Mass. -- A fire professional's scrutiny of Truro's small, on-call fire department suggests that the lack of professional standards and strong leadership leave the town vulnerable to lawsuits, and possibly unsafe conditions.
In a study released this week, the Truro Board of Fire Engineers, which oversees the department, was described as unorganized and "being run by its members each with his/her own agenda and ideas."
The seven-member town board is composed of six firefighters and one non-firefighter. By law, the fire engineers, appointed annually by the board of selectmen, run the fire department and appoint the fire chief.
"Ladies and gentlemen, this is not today's type of operation," the study's author, retired Brewster Fire Chief Roy Jones, told selectmen Tuesday.
On Thursday, Jones said that fire department members could get injured because of the lack of standards, possibly making the town liable in a lawsuit. Also, the town could possibly be sued if a property owner claimed a fire went unattended because of improper training, he said.
Fire Capt. Leo Childs, one of the fire engineers, said Thursday that while long-term planning is a new and difficult task for the board, the department is effective. The problem, he said, is lack of staff.
The Truro Fire Department has 26 paid, on-call firefighters and medical rescuers, and could comfortably use 40, Childs said. The department handled about 500 emergency medical calls and 80 fire calls in 2010.
"I would say it's easy to find fault, but most of our problems stem from the fact that we're short-handed," Childs said.
There is a diminishing pool of on-call firemen, because the region's population is aging and the mandatory retirement age is 65, Childs said. Training takes more time and commitment than in earlier days, and the economy makes it hard for people to earn money and serve on the department, Childs said.
The neighboring town of Wellfleet, which has a mix of on-call and full-time firefighters, has also begun a concerted effort to recruit on-call firefighters, Wellfleet Fire Chief Dan Silverman has said in recent weeks.
Truro selectmen hired Jones roughly four months ago to assess the town's fire department and make recommendations. Jones was paid $5,000 and may be rehired to help implement his suggestions, Truro Town Administrator Rex Peterson said Thursday.
"We need to feel that they're going in the right direction, and that everybody's going to be safe," said Selectman Jan Worthington, who was a member of the Truro Fire Department for more than 10 years.
Truro is the smallest town on Cape Cod and is one of two fire departments -- the other is Provincetown -- governed by a board of fire engineers.
Most other fire departments on the Cape have moved away from a fire engineers board, adopting instead a state law that gives a fire chief direct authority over the department. In these departments, chiefs are either appointed by elected civilian boards, such as the board of selectmen in Brewster or the fire district prudential committee in West Barnstable, or appointed by town administrators or managers, as in Bourne and Chatham, town and fire officials said.
In his assessment, Jones said Brian Davis, Truro's part-time fire chief, could put the department on the right track but needs more support from the selectmen. Jones said the town should eliminate the board of fire engineers in three years, and adopt the state law that gives the fire chief authority over the department.
Davis did not return a call seeking comment.
The fire engineers themselves haven't yet had a chance to respond to Jones' assessment, though, said fire engineer Richard D. Carrier Wednesday.
"They're forcing the town to go to a full-time fire department, which is going to cost the town a fortune," Carrier said.
In the current fiscal year, the town will spend about $587,000 on fire department, rescue and emergency medical services and an ambulance fund, town records show.
The selectmen plan to discuss the study with the fire engineers on Tuesday.
McClatchy-Tribune News Service
