Combining Departments and Staffing Schedules Going Well at Lebanon Fire and EMS Department.

Lebanon Fire and EMS Chief, Daniel Meehan

Photo Courtesy of Lebanon Fire and EMS

 

Lebanon Truth Seekers had an opportunity to speak with Lebanon Fire and Rescue Department Chief Dan Meehan this morning regarding his work at combining the Lebanon Fire Department with the Lebanon Rescue Department.

Meehan says the combining of the two departments is "going well", and that morale is up and that he is pleased with the attendance at  recent training classes.

Voters in the Town of Lebanon had their voice on June 9th when they voted in the town's election to combine both departments under the leadership of Meehan, a career firefighter with the City of Rochester, NH. The referendum question, number 12 on the ballot, specifically states that the town was voting "...to create a combined Municipal EMS Medical Service and Municipal Fire Department, effectively combining the proposed Fire and Rescue budgets into one budget."

The budgetary referendums, numbers 9, 10 and 11, give the newly combined departments a total of $451,353.00 for the upcoming fiscal year with a $50,000.00 account toward equipment purchases.

At this time, the EMS staffing is in full operation with 2 paid EMTs staffing for ambulance calls at the Depot Road Fire Station location. Meehan says "The most important thing for us to do right now is to make sure the ambulance is covered for calls," adding that he has plans for looking at the money numbers and that his goal is for 2 staffed EMS members and 1 Firefighter over time.

Today, our Lebanon EMS is staffed at the Fire Station location from 6 am until 10 pm, with hours between 10 pm and 6 am being scheduled for coverage from the staffers' homes. All Lebanon Fire personnel are still staffing from home.

Meehan went on to say that he has been spending time going over records of the call volumes of the past few years, noticing that the Fire Department averages 1 call every 2 weeks while the EMS Department has been responding to 1 or more calls on a daily basis, thus his decision to focus first on getting EMS up and running correctly and then turning his attention to the Fire Department.

Lebanon Truth Seekers asked Chief Meehan if an ambulance driver could also drive a Fire Truck, and the answer was different than what we expected. While Ambulance and Fire Truck drivers are both specialty licenses, the Fire Truck drivers are required to have a "Pumps Class" before they can jump in an apparatus and go screaming off to a scene. "What good is knowing how to drive it, if you can't hook it up and apply water to a fire?" Meehan had said on a separate interview earlier in the month. The Lebanon Truth Seekers also recalls an earlier interview with Firefighter Andy Noyes, in which he disclosed that when an engine arrives on an active fire scene, in the absence of the Chief, or Assistant Chief, the Fire Truck Driver is in command of that scene, as they are the ones that know the truck's capabilities, the proper distance to keep away from the burn, and the proper pressure to maintain in the truck's pumping system. So, according to that interview, it would be important for a Fire Truck Driver to have the additional "Pumps Class".

While the Department's goal is the cross training of all members, that hasn't happened yet, although a "Pumps Class" is in the works for sometime in the near future as there are several young Firefighters who have recently completed driver training, but are still in need of the "Pumps Class" in order to take the equipment to an active fire. "We have to take baby steps", stated Meehan. "This won't happen all at once."

In fact, the Chief inherited quite a few problems when he agreed to take over as Chief of both the Rescue and Fire Departments. The Fire Department was in decent shape financially in maintaining the status quo, but didn't have enough money in the coffers to provide for training or new equipment purchases. The Rescue Department, on the other hand, was operating in a hand-to-mouth fashion, only surviving on their receivables since the town had a tough pill to swallow when they realized in 2013 that the department, which town voters had moved to separate from the town's budget and allow to be fiscally responsible only to itself, was financially insolvent and borrowing money from other town accounts at an alarming rate.

OSHA (Occupational Safety and Health Administration), a part of the Federal Department of Labor, was getting ready to level some very hefty fines on the Department for violations they had identified and ordered to be taken care of well over a year ago, and Meehan, as the new Chief, was given only a matter of weeks to bring all into compliance.

Ambulance 1, the town's aging ambulance, had mechanical issues, which again, had been identified to the former Chief, but they had neglected to care for it, and now, after over a year of being unsound, the vehicle has been repaired properly and is back in service.

Mutual Aid relationships with other towns, which had been at an all time low, with many neighboring town's departments beginning to charge Lebanon for their assistance, are being repaired, one day, one event, one meeting at a time, and the Chief reports a good working relationship with all the area Mutual Aid towns, with Sanford agreeing to no longer charge the $2,000 charge for responding to Lebanon emergencies.

Although the Chief's position is a part time position scheduled for about 20 hours per week, Meehan spends between 40 and 50 hours per week still trying to get things together after years of neglect and mismanagement, but he has no complaints, figuring it will get easier for him over time as schedules and responsibilities are worked out and people begin to work with the new ways of doing things.

"Things are working out well," said Meehan of his newly combined department. "As of July 1st the ambulance has been covered 24 hours a day with dedicated members who have stepped up to make sure the town is covered."

Also we have to remember that there are several people who are active in the Frisbie Hospital EMT training course who have committed to at least 18 months worth of service to the Town of Lebanon after being given a grant through Frisbie EMS for their training, which will increase the available members for staffing, once their requirements and State testing are completed.

So, things take time. Complete changes in budget, management, staffing, coverage, equipment, training, and responsibility don't happen overnight, but you can be sure that the Chief and his Lebanon Responders are on top of things and working together as one single, combined department to make things happen in Lebanon.