By Ally Lanasa, Staff Writer
(Oct. 29, 2020) Berlin Fire Company President David Fitzgerald presented the quarterly report from July 1 to Sept. 30 to the Berlin Mayor and Council on Monday.
Between July 1 and Sept. 30, the fire company responded to 40 in-town fire and rescue calls, making up almost 34 percent of total calls.
Fitzgerald said the number of in-town calls is slightly lower than usual because there were fewer events in Berlin amid the pandemic.
According to the report, the busiest days this quarter were Tuesday, then Friday and Saturday. The busiest times of day were noon to 2 p.m.
The calculated response time for this period was 3.45 minutes. The county response time standard is six minutes, and the Matrix report states the response should be nine minutes or less, Fitzgerald said.
Fitzgerald also provided budget highlights for the first quarter of the FY21 budget.
He said the fire company received $8,000 more in donations than was budgeted.
“However, we still are down overall from the past year,” he said. “We estimated a 20 percent decrease because of covid and what have you, and we didn’t take that full 20 percent hit, so that’s a good thing. But we still are down from previous years.”
The fire company was not able to hold any fundraisers because of covid-19 and restrictions on gathering sizes.
Normally, the fire company hosts chicken barbecues during the first quarter out of the second station on Stephen Decatur Highway.
Responding to Councilman Jay Knerr, Fitzgerald said fund-raising can bring in $5,000 to $60,000 a year.
Fitzgerald added that the company has not received any hall rentals either because of capacity restrictions during the pandemic.
In addition, the fire company has received 50 percent of its funds from county as per charter and 50 percent of its funds from Berlin as per contract.
The fire company experienced some unexpected expenditures this quarter, including the replacement of two computers.
“And then we have our annual inspections and maintenance in progress,” Fitzgerald said. We just wrote a lot of checks yesterday for our annual vehicle maintenance. So, that is a large expense, and that will be in our next quarterly report.”
He added that there were some unanticipated vehicle repairs.
As for capital budget updates, Fitzgerald said the fire company has not had a capital budget for a few years.
“As we presented during budget time, we do have a large expenditure looking at us over the next few years and we have to plan for and that’s our breathing apparatus,” Fitzgerald said.
He added that it will likely be a $3,000 expenditure to replace the current inventory. Grant funding may cover part of the cost.
“We cannot phase that in. We have to purchase these all at one time for an operational issue,” Fitzgerald said. “It’s the best operation if they get replaced all at one time so they are the same model [and] have the same options.”
In addition, reduced state aid funds could be seen in the next budget.
“We don’t know what our next year’s state aid funds will be like, but we took a 26 percent cut in the budget this year and a 10 percent cut next year,” Fitzgerald said.
Fitzgerald also provided a quarterly update for the Emergency Medical Services (EMS) at the Berlin Fire Co.
Between July 1 and Sept. 30, the EMS staff responded to 239 in-town calls, making up 47.9 percent of total calls, and 249 calls outside of town.
The EMS staff also conducted 152 transports and 75 non-transports in town during the first quarter.
The busiest days for EMS were Monday and Tuesday. The busiest times of day were noon to 2 p.m.
“The busiest block of 12 hours is 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. and why we monitor that is it helps with our staffing,” Fitzgerald said.
The average response time of the EMS staff is nearly one and half minutes, which includes the second and third run calls that may be full volunteer response from home.
The review of random staffed EMS calls meet the 60-second standard for response times.
“We do have one career staff there 24 hours a day,” Fitzgerald said.
Donation requests for EMS will be mailed Nov. 30.
“Our invoices are down seven percent,” Fitzgerald said, which is caused by a decrease in transports.
He also said all the county funds have been received for operating and ambulance replacement.
Per the contract with the town, the EMS has received 50 percent of funds.
As for expense budget highlights, the payroll is slightly over the expected 25 percent.
“We’re on track with our payroll, just unfortunately we’ve cut the staff,” Fitzgerald said.
The staffing cuts complied with the town’s 27 percent budget cuts.
All other accounts are within budget for this quarter, Fitzgerald said.
There are no capital funds for ambulance replacements.
Fitzgerald said the third ambulance was replaced with a loan, and the loan payment has been paid through county funds. The town did not provide funds.
“We did work with a local bank to finance that,” he added. “We try to keep the money local when we can.”
Worcester County has received CARES Act funding, but it has not been dispersed among the local fire companies for additional expenses such as cleaning supplies and PPE.
Fitzgerald expects funding from the county.
“If they do not reimburse us through CARES, we will apply to FEMA for what they call ‘Part B Emergency Protective Measures.’ There’s a $3,300 threshold,” Fitzgerald said.
He added that they have spent about $4,000.
“Now, we have received two automatic payments. Anybody who billed Medicare received automatic payments, and those are in an escrow contingency fund because the federal government still has not told you how you can spend those funds,” Fitzgerald said. “We’ve been told keep those separate, do not spend those until you get the guidance.”
Mayor Zackery Tyndall and District 4 Councilmember Dean Burrell requested that any grants received for covid, any shortfall in funding and any operational changes because of covid be included in the next quarterly report.