| Chief Timothy Bailey told selectmen at their June 23 meeting that as of July 1 he might have to close the East Walpole fire station from time to time for staffing reasons.
Two firefighter/para-medics are to be laid off Tuesday as a result of the FY '10 budget proposed by Town Administrator Michael Boynton and voted by Town Meeting in May. The department has lost two other firefighter/-paramedics to budget cutbacks; the most recent one was to be laid off next week and is now in the Sharon's department.
In addition, Chief Bailey told selectmen that three firefighter/paramedics are out for extended periods because of injuries, leaving the department with five on duty. That's seven below full strength of a year ago.
Selectmen agreed that the chief has the authority to close East Walpole station on his own, and backed his proposal to do so when needed.
The discussion at Tuesday night's board meeting did not get directly into another issue created by the loss of firefight-er/paramedics: The state requires two paramedics for every shift -- a total of eight -- for the town to retain its license for Advanced Life Support (ALS) on its ambulances.
Bailey noted that he plans to replace men out for more than 60 days with temporary firefighters. In the past, the temporary replacements have not been paramedics, Bailey said.
-- Tom Glynn
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