KEVIN DOHERTY
Sentinel & Enterprise

On Sept. 18, an elderly woman attending the St. Denis Bazaar fell, suffering head injuries, and the town's emergency response units were called. With no full-time firefighters/paramedics scheduled for the weekend because of a lack of resources, on-call firefighters were dispatched, which is typical protocol in town.

But this time no one responded.

"She was sitting there bleeding in the road," said resident Barbara "Pixie" Brennan. "The two police officers on duty were there comforting her as she asked how soon help was coming. And not one member of the call Fire Department came. Instead she had to wait for Wood's Ambulance (from Gardner) to respond."

"It's difficult to accept that none of them responded," she added. "I understand that people's lives are really busy, but when you sign on, you have to understand you have a huge responsibility. ... I'm really not criticizing the department and their schedule choices, I just want to make sure if something happens to me, someone responds."

The injured woman was transported to the hospital and released.

Fire Chief Paul Zbikowski acknowledged the need for more on-call firefighters.

"We can't keep track of where the on-call firefighters are," said Zbikowski. "Trust me, it's nowhere near the plan I want or proposed for ... but we need to add more per diem firefighters.

"We use to have more college and high school aged call firefighters, and other on-call firefighters, who's schedule just worked better," said Zbikowski. "We are trying to do our best and there is a need to bring on more per diem firefighters. We try to provide the best care for residents in town, so if someone has a heart attack at 2 a.m., they get the same treatment as someone who had a heart attack at 2 p.m."

To date, there are more than 30 on-call firefighters in the department. Seven are also paramedics, according to the Ashburnham Fire Department's website.

"I don't think they're understaffed," contested Brennan. "There's just a problem with the people they have showing up. If no one is responding, do I need more men or new employees? I think the people responding should keep their jobs and the one that aren't showing up should be replaced."

Selectman Maggie Whitney cited the firefighters' new schedule, adopted this summer, as cause for concern.

"In my opinion, I'm amazed that a Fire Department works Monday through Friday with no holidays and weekends," she said.

The Fire Department currently has two full-time firefighters/paramedics working Monday through Friday from 7 a.m. to 4 p.m., and two other full-time employees working the same days from 8 a.m. to 5 p m., according to Fire Chief Paul Zbikowski

"We basically have gone back to the same schedule we had with only 4 full-time firefighters prior to 2006," said Zbikowski, referring to the new criticism of the new schedule. "In 2006, we added an employee, so we were able to fluctuate the schedule and add more hours during the evening and weekend. ... However, we were forced to change the schedule back when a position was cut in 2008. Eighty-five percent of our calls occur between 7 a.m. and 11 p.m., so that's why we picked this schedule."

Zbikowski noted that the Fire Department received a $325,000 grant in 2008 to add on three new positions, but town residents voted down putting aside $90,000 a year for five years for insurance on the grant.

"We were that close to providing 24-hour service to residents, but it got voted down at Town Meeting because people were afraid the grant could fall through, which really doesn't happen," he said.

Copyright 2010 MediaNews Group, Inc. and Mid-States Newspapers, Inc.
All Rights Reserved
October 16, 2010