Representative Town Meeting Regular Meeting Materials (linked)

Good Evening Members of the Town of Waterford RTM,
| am writing you again to voice my concerns with the Town of Waterford’s lack of fire
protection. In my last letter to you | wrote about how the lack of staffing resulted in the death
of a resident, we staff the police with extra officers when there’s a spike in crime (which is
proven to do nothing to stop crime) but do nothing about the fire service, and the overall lack
of leadership in the Waterford Fire Department.
| had written this letter directly to First Selectman Rob Brule, but after no response for a
number of weeks | forwarded the letter to you all so you could see concerns of mine and know
that the highest level of town government was not only being negligent on the issue, but not
answering a concerried citizen about the issue. | was pleased to hear while attending the
meeting via Zoom that the RTM wants to send these concerns of mine to and ADHOC. I believe
this is the best choice and it’s important for these issues to be investigated and a plan be put in
place to stop these things from hurting our community anymore.
My specific concerns were: : os
- Lack of fire protection “
- Lack of oversight
- Lack of leadership
- Lack of training.
With that being said I’m going to fill in the gaps between my last letter, which was dated
on July 27", 2020 and now, October 4*, 2020. ane
Since then | have been contacted by both the Director of Fire Services, Bruce
Miller, and the First Selectman, Rob Brule, to speak about the matter. While | appreciate a good
follow up, even if it is 3 weeks after the initial complaint, | was not satisfied with the answers.
The Director of Fire Services essentially said he agrees with my concerns and
knows that there are problems but that “I know how it is” ...
Here is what | know-
- The Waterford Fire Service is inadequate.
- It does not have the ability to mitigate emergencies in town.
- It relies on the City of New London.
- ° It has too many trucks and not enough firefighters.
- It hangs its hat on “part time” and volunteer firefighters who frankly do not
have the time or desire to handle these calls and supplement paid staff
(Proven by statistics).
- And know that the Town of Waterford is NOTHING SHORT of NEGLIGENT on
the matter. Will it take the death of another resident before we start getting
serious about fire protection?
The First Selectman said the following- (paraphrasing because I’m a good note taker as
he stated on our telecommunication on August 20".
- He told me that he comes from a world of 24-hour coverage, something not
everyone in Waterford has the luxury of.

He felt some type of way about this going to committee because he said he
can “Do things faster than committee” ... Whether that’s true or not, we still
have inadequate staffing after his 1 year in office... homes burning, people
dying.
When asked about the lack of leadership, because it has been over ONE
YEAR since a Fire Officer from Waterford Fire Engine Co.1 has attended a call,
Rob said he’s looking at calls and response times, incident command “or a
lack thereof”, ordinances, and a stipend program.
All of these conversations raise more concerns with me. If we know there is a problem,
why aren’t we fixing it. In the Marine Corps when we recognize a safety issue, we handie it
immediately, move it to the top of our priority list, because we understand that lives are at
stake. Every day you go on ignoring the facts in front of your face is another day someone could
take their last breath due to inadequate fire services in the Town of Waterford.
Just today, October 4", 2020 there was a call at Springhill Suites on the Frontage Rd in
Waterford. If you’re not familiar, this is a hotel in town which is 3 stories and can house over
100 people at full capacity (80 Rooms).
This cal! came into the dispatcher as a Structure fire- mulch burning up
against the exterior wall with smoke on the first and second floors.
The two “Part Time” firefighters at Jordan with the towns largest ladder truck
(105 FT), and most portable ladder, are not qualified to drive it, so they took
the fire engine with a lot of fire hose and not a lot of ladders.
The two “Part time” firefighters at Cohanzie (the closest fire station... with
the Towns ONLY OTHER ladder truck) COULDN’T take it because it had
become damaged earlier in the shift during “training” (look into that one).
The city of New London had to be called for their ladder truck and showed up
with FIVE firefighters, while we totaled 6 (4 paid, 2 volunteer, and 3
“officers”).
We know this- Fire at a hotel in town with the potential to have 80 rooms full of
people who are generally unfamiliar with the layout, and if encountered with a
smoke condition in the hallway will likely look for egress via window. The
windows are too high and there’s too many for the firefighters to effect without
a ladder truck. But we didn’t have one due to YET ANOTHER OVERSIGHT in
staffing by having two unqualified people work the same station. Luckily the fire
did not penetrate the exterior wall of the building, but if it had, the building
would’ve gone up much faster than the SIX firefighters on scene could have
handled...
NFPA 1720 (combination department response) states 10 firefighters on
scene within 10 minutes 80% of the time- We missed. the mark today.
NFPA 1710 (Paid fire dept response} recommends each truck be staffed
with FOUR firefighters ONE of them being an OFFICER. A LEADER. CRAZY!!

2The time for change is NOW. The ADHOC Committee is a must and needs to find a way
to put our money to good use. Our police and fire departments have an abundance of gear (3
boats, jet skis, bikes, ATV’s, pick-up trucks... a lot of duplicates between both agencies) and no
one to use it... no one qualified to use it. Please look into these matters. Thank you.
Respectfully,
Christopher Venditti
(860) 287-4644
Cvenditti21@gmail.com