Engine Blackouts in the New Bedford Fire Department

By Benjamin Clark

Every minute seems like an eternity in a fire.

When there is heavy fire and smoke pouring out of a building, the New Bedford firefighters do not have much time to think, and have to know there is enough manpower to fight the fire successfully.

When the nearest fire engine is “blacked out” and unavailable, people can die and property can be destroyed in a matter of minutes, fire officials say.

“A ‘blackout’ is when a fire apparatus closes down for 24 hours, and that neighborhood has no coverage.  If that neighborhood needs a fire engine, it has to steal another engine from a different neighborhood, which decreases the response time in that area,” said Michael Raymond, a New Bedford firefighter.

The city of New Bedford has seven fire engines and three ladder trucks spread across seven fire stations, four in the North End and three in the South End.  Each day, the number of firefighters available for duty can vary, but it used to be 40 men.

“We used to be able to hire guys for overtime to get to 40 if some were either sick or on vacation,” Raymond said.  “The city will now take whatever engine has the least amount of guys on a given day, and will shut that truck down and transfer the men on duty to a different station. They go wherever they are needed most, and the chief makes this decision.” 

Under the New Bedford fire union contract, each fire apparatus must have at least four men, but the mayor makes the department black out one engine every day to avoid hiring more firefighters. 

“The chief is in charge of the manpower every morning and night.  He decides which engine is going to be blacked out, and he keeps it on a rotating basis, so that one neighborhood does not have a blacked out engine more often than the next.  He has to adjust the areas of coverage accordingly,” said New Bedford firefighter Peter Clark.

In June 2018, the New Bedford Fire Department released a statement saying that Ladder Company 1 would be relocated from Station Two to the far North End in Sassaquin indefinitely, and will remain out of service because the floors of Fire Station Two in the South End needed to be redone. 

“The project to fix the flooring in Station Two was because we are getting some brand new state of the art fire trucks, and the old floors in that station would not be able to withhold the weight of the new trucks,” said Fire Chief Michael Gomes.

This means that in the meantime, Station Two would be down a truck, and Engine One would park outside the station.  However, for the winter, decisions have to be made about where to keep the truck. 

“Station Two is the busiest station, and with Ladder One being the designated blackout piece since June, they have had to operate with just one engine out of station two,” said former firefighter Tom Mello.  “Engine One has had to park outside ever since the flooring project began, and they have had to clean snow off of it already.  It remains outside because the floor project has not been finished. ”

A fire engine cannot be parked outside in freezing weather due to the freezing of pumpers, fire extinguishers, and leftover water in the hoses.  That means a decision must be made where engine one will be stationed.  This will leave Station 2 unoccupied until the project is completed.  This has led to uneasiness with the surrounding neighbors.

Rosalina Tavares, 62, of New Bedford, lives in the downtown area in the blacked out neighborhood of Station Two.  She has been worried about her safety ever since the move of Ladder One.

“I think it is lousy,” said Tavares.  “It’s too bad that ladder truck can’t be here to help us in the neighborhood.  It will be even more scary when our fire engine moves away from the station too.  I am worried if someone needs them, it will take too long for them to get here.”

Since June, New Bedford firefighters have been worried that the “blackout” will be permanent.

“We are starting to get the feeling that the city will continue to control how many workers we can and cannot have at a time,” said Peter Clark.  “This is a huge issue, and the longer this goes on, the more accepted it has become.  The average citizen does not realize that this is taking place on a daily basis.  The average citizen just goes about their business thinking they have the necessary protection, when in reality, they don’t.”

The city has limited the number of firefighters, and this is limiting the city from finding the answer to this major problem, according to New Bedford EMT Frederick Kalisz Jr.

“The answer is not necessarily always hiring guys on overtime, the answer would be to hire brand new firefighters and bring them onto the job so that there are enough firefighters on the job.  The city of New Bedford has only agreed to carry 205 firefighters as opposed to 236 in past years, and the costs to train new ones, provide health insurance, provide fire gear, and the overall process of hiring them does not come cheap.  It is a difficult situation, but I have confidence that the city of New Bedford will stand alongside the New Bedford Fire Department and figure things out to protect the citizens of this great city,” he said.