Warrant Article #30: Adding firefighters to Seabrook Fire Dept
Warrant Article #30 requests adding two new firefighters per shift, or eight firefighters total. Seabrook fire has not added a firefighter since 2003, over twenty years ago. In that time, demand for fire and EMS services has increased tremendously.
The estimated 2023 amount for the Warrant Article is estimated at $1,064,432, or $0.296 / $1,000 of valuation. On a $500,000 home, that would be less than $4.00 per week. This staffing would also potentially save $400,000 / year in fire department overtime.
Key Points
1. Seabrook Fire Department provides fire and emergency medical services (ambulance) to the Town of Seabrook. Seabrook FD has 20 firefighters, and is operating with a headcount of 5 firefighters per shift. Seabrook FD has not added a firefighter since 2003, 20 years ago.
2. Seabrook FD always maintains its minimum shift staffing, so that no shift is ever under-manned. With the current headcount, all firefighters are working full-time, plus overtime, to keep shifts fully manned.
As an example; One fire truck call (4-5 firefighters) and one ambulance call (3 firefighters), or two ambulance calls concurrently (6 firefighters), ties up the entire firehouse shift. This requires either bringing in firefighters from other shifts to come in, on overtime, or requesting Mutual Aid from surrounding towns, which adds time to the call. Adding overtime calls to Seabrook firefighters who are already working full-time also increases wear and tear on the team, impacts family life, and raises the risk of injury. Seabrook FD has seen some of these injury increases in recent years.
3. The primary question is, “How many firefighters does Seabrook need to keep residents and firefighters safe?” There are three areas to consider, see below. By all of these measures, Seabrook FD is seriously understaffed, and has been for some time. Area towns with significantly less fire and EMS demand than Seabrook, have 7-10 firefighters on each shift. For Seabrook’s needs, optimal shift staffing would be at least 7 firefighters / shift.
Areas impacting demand for fire and EMS services;
a. Growth in Seabrook demand for fire and EMS services over the last 20 years. This includes;
i. Retail. Route 1 retail growth includes larger retail facilities, including WalMart, the second Market Basket, Staples, and others. A Market Basket report from 2016 – 6 years ago – reported an average of 4,300 transactions per day. This works out to roughly 10,000 people per day going through the registers, or 70,000 people per week. At the same time, Walmart reported 5,300 transactions per day, or roughly 13,000 people per day or 91,000 per week. Observations show that many of these are vehicles from Massachusetts and Maine, accessing Seabrook shopping via I-95
ii. Traffic. Many of the retail visitors, and other Seabrook visitors and residents, are driving. Traffic comes into Seabrook via an Interstate-95 exit and two State Highways. A NH Department of Transportation report found 10,000 vehicles per day crossing into Seabrook over Route 1. Assume 3 people per vehicle, that’s 30,000 incoming people per day. This vehicle traffic increases the number of vehicles and traffic, potentially involved in motor-vehicle accidents.
iii. Residential growth, including high-density complexes like Rockingham Village. For example, in January 2023, Seabrook FD got 31 calls to Rockingham Village.
iv. Fireworks storage. Part of the retail footprint of Seabrook’s Route 1 corridor includes fireworks vendors, storing and selling large amounts of fireworks. Thousands of visitors come to Seabrook’s fireworks vendors during the summer.
b. Comparisons with similar fire departments in the area.
The comparison between Hampton and Seabrook Fire Departments is interesting. See the table below. Hampton FD has 10 firefighters per shift, twice as many as Seabrook. That is without some of the demand that Seabrook FD faces.
c. Overtime and injury costs There have been discussions in town which describe fire department overtime as some kind of benefit. This is not accurate. Unlike in the manufacturing or services industries, proper shift coverage on a fire / EMS service is not a nice-to-have. It’s a must-have. Each shift has a mandatory minimum coverage. If shifts are not properly staffed, there will be insufficient firefighter / EMS resources to respond to calls promptly. This can negatively impact public safety.
The current practice of filling shortages with overtime duty also creates an additional strain on firefighter / EMS staff. Firefighting is consistently ranked among the most dangerous professions. Having staff work additional overtime, increases the demand and risk of injury. Seabrook had 5 firefighters – 25% of the staff – out injured at the same time, for several months. Seabrook FD is undermanned to handle large events when there are firefighters injured. Those missing firefighters had to be replaced with overtime from other firefighters.
4. The Seabrook Town Deliberative Session of February 7, 2023 included a manpower demonstration by Chief Edwards, and extensive discussions with voters and the Select Board. The Warrant Article as adopted adds 2 additional firefighters per shift, or 8 firefighters total. This would result in 7 firefighters per shift. The Warrant Article passed by a vote of 73 to 6.
5. The two options considered during the Deliberative Session were adding 4 additional firefighters (1 per shift), or 8 additional firefighters (2 per shift). In the option chosen (8 firefighters), due to overtime reduction, we can add twice as many additional firefighters, for only 25% additional cost. Reducing overtime is also likely to reduce injury and injury overtime. This is summarized below.
6. The estimated amount for the Warrant Article is $1,064,432, or $0.296 / $1,000 of valuation. The cost to a homeowner on a $500,000 home would be $3.79 per week. As shown in the table above, this staffing should also save about $400,000 / year of overtime.