On Saturday, March 30, members of the Londonderry and Derry Fire Departments responded to 16 Mallard Lane for a fire reported in the garage at that address.
According to a press release issued over the weekend by Battalion Chief, Jonathan Camire, the Londonderry Fire Telecommunications Office (TCO) received a 911 call reporting a fire in the garage of the home at the listed address. After receiving the call, TCO was dispatching personnel to a different emergency call in the south end of town, and while a third emergency was under control, staff was transporting a patient to an area hospital. The simultaneous events prompted a significant response from the town’s mutual aid partners, as there was only one Londonderry Engine Company left available.
Derry Ladder 3 arrived on scene at 12:03 p.m. and reported smoke and fire showing from the garage of a two-story home, they requested the working fire assignment bringing in additional resources. The home was reported as evacuated by the residents on scene. A search was conducted to confirm this, and to verify the wellbeing of their pet cat.
The report added, “The fire was quickly knocked down by crews and the home was ventilated to remove the smoke. One resident was transported to an area hospital for evaluation due to possible smoke inhalation but has since been released. There were no reported injuries to fire service personnel.”
The incident was placed under control as of 12:21 p.m. and the investigation is ongoing by Londonderry Division Chief, Brian Johnson.
The report added, the apparatus on scene was: Londonderry Battalion 3, C3, Engine 1, Engine 2, Tanker 1, Rescue 1, Derry Car 1, Derry Ladder 3, Derry Engine 1, Derry Medic 1, and Auburn Tanker 1.
Station coverage was delivered by: Londonderry Battalion 2, Salem Engine 2, Windham Engine 1, Litchfield Tanker 1.
Shortly after the fire, a statement was released by the Professional Fire Fighters of Londonderry Local 3160 on social media.
The statement read, “Due to a budget freeze enacted by the Town Manager we are operating in drop down mode, meaning our response was significantly diminished as only Engine 1 and the Battalion Chief were available.”
In that post, the admin of the page explained that the union was told by the town that “an increase in health insurance and unexpected legal fees” was the reason for the sudden budget freeze.
On Monday night, Town Manager, Mike Malaguti, addressed the statement with a press release, “Since I became Town Manager, support for our public safety departments has been my first priority, and this includes the Londonderry Fire Department. LFD is not operating in ‘drop down mode.’ LFD is currently budgeted for 12-member battalions, with minimum staffing at 11 during the spending freeze. Three of four battalions are currently staffed at 12, although this can differ based on employee leaves. The fourth battalion will be staffed at 12 as soon as the budget allows, which I expect will occur later this fiscal year. Battalion 3 had 11 working members on March 30, 2024.”
He added, “While over the past year, LFD has consistently hired overtime to hold staffing at 12 if one or more battalion members is on leave, this has not been the historic practice before 2023, and the current budget approved by the voters does not support this given the vacancies LFD had early in the fiscal year. In fact, staffing was sometimes allowed to drop below 11 in the past – to nine as recently as 2016 – to adjust to budgetary conditions.”
On the response time, Malaguti said, “It is not surprising that Derry’s response to this particular fire scene was faster than Londonderry’s because Derry Station 3 is 1.1 miles away from this scene, whereas the closest Londonderry station is five miles away. Mutual aid is always called for a building fire in Londonderry, and mutual aid is the norm in the fire service.”
On the budget freeze, he said, “My staff and I became aware that LFD’s overtime expenses were trending significantly over budget, and in January we learned the cost control measures adopted by LFD earlier in the fiscal year had not been effective to reverse this trend. At this time, LFD’s $723,000 overtime budget was almost fully expended just over halfway through the fiscal year, and LFD was running a projected deficit of approximately $487,000, bringing the town’s total projected surplus to dangerous levels. Because of the significant time remaining in the fiscal year, and in order to ensure sufficient funding for all of our departments, including police and DPW, with the Town Council’s awareness, I instituted a budget freeze across all town departments. This is important because it is illegal to overspend the town’s total approved budget by even one dollar.”
Fire Chief, Bo Butler, also spoke on the situation during the Monday night Council meeting, saying he had been discussing the situation with the Town Manager and working through the issues.
He started by taking ownership of the problem, saying, “I will put the wellbeing of the fire fighters first, because once the members are protected and taken care of everything else will take care of itself. I prioritize civil protection and public safety over everything else.”
He also said he and Malaguti have a disagreement on their views are on the drop down situation.
He also made a case on why the number 12 is the proper number to staff the department at, citing what the voters have approved since 2015. In 2015, the department went from 10 to 11 members and in 2018-19, it went to 12 through the use of a SAFER grant.
He identified the fact that his department is down six positions currently and because of that, staff has accrued overtime to accommodate the 12-man staff number.
He added that this year, voters agreed to raise the staffing number to 13 fire fighters.
Butler finished by saying that the department is very close to filling the six open spots on the roster and when that happens all the other problems will go away.