{"id":56,"date":"2009-08-27T09:37:48","date_gmt":"2009-08-27T09:37:48","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sudbury.ma.us\/fire\/2009\/08\/27\/station-3-closing-some-nights-starting-september-1-2009\/"},"modified":"2009-08-27T09:37:48","modified_gmt":"2009-08-27T09:37:48","slug":"station-3-closing-some-nights-starting-september-1-2009","status":"public-archive","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sudbury.ma.us\/fire\/2009\/08\/27\/station-3-closing-some-nights-starting-september-1-2009\/","title":{"rendered":"Station 3 closing some nights starting September 1, 2009"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><P class=MsoPlainText><SPAN>A message from Fire Chief MacLean:<\/SPAN><\/P><br \/>\n<P class=MsoPlainText><SPAN><\/SPAN><\/P><br \/>\n<P class=MsoPlainText><SPAN>The Sudbury Fire Department will begin closing Station 3 on North Road at night on the first occasion of overtime beginning September 1, 2009.<SPAN>&nbsp; <\/SPAN>This preemptive step is necessary to stay within the overtime budget for FY10 and is similar to action taken this time last year.<SPAN>&nbsp; <\/SPAN>By acting early we maintain flexibility for later in the year, conserving our resources to meet our future challenges.<\/SPAN><SPAN>&nbsp;<\/SPAN><\/P><br \/>\n<P class=MsoPlainText><SPAN>While the Department\u2019s budget was reduced for FY10, in fact it is staffing issues driving this move.<SPAN>&nbsp; <\/SPAN>Presently there are two Fire Department members on long term sick leave, two vacancies, one leave of absence, and one recent hire attending the Massachusetts Firefighting Academy.<SPAN>&nbsp; <\/SPAN>Filling each absence will exhaust the overtime budget prior to fiscal year end, so some overtime slots must be left vacant.<\/SPAN><\/P><br \/>\n<P class=MsoPlainText><SPAN>Overtime reduction means fewer people on duty; reducing the number of personnel on duty requires repositioning to best meet our needs.<SPAN>&nbsp; <\/SPAN>Because Station 3 has the fewest in-district calls of our three stations, its periodic closure and reassignment of personnel creates the least degradation of service.<SPAN>&nbsp; <\/SPAN>Review of night call volume suggests this period to be the least disruptive to our response.<SPAN>&nbsp; <\/SPAN>I regret having to make this decision, but I have only so much to work with.<SPAN>&nbsp; <\/SPAN>On the plus side, the second firefighter from Station 3 will be used to backfill absences and bolster capabilities at Headquarters and Station 2.<SPAN>&nbsp; <\/SPAN>Remember, too, that the ambulance dispatches from HQ and will not be affected by this change.<\/SPAN><\/P><br \/>\n<P class=MsoPlainText><SPAN>We are all working diligently to solve the challenges that give rise to this problem.<SPAN>&nbsp; <\/SPAN>I have applied for grant funds through the Massachusetts Fire Service Staffing program to fill our two vacancies.<SPAN>&nbsp; <\/SPAN>The hiring process is underway to fill the leave of absence slot.<SPAN>&nbsp; <\/SPAN>Our member in the Academy will return in twelve weeks.<SPAN>&nbsp; <\/SPAN>And we all hope for speedy resolution and recovery for our sick members.<\/SPAN><\/P><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Staffing challenges force some preemtive closings. <a href=\"https:\/\/sudbury.ma.us\/fire\/2009\/08\/27\/station-3-closing-some-nights-starting-september-1-2009\/\" aria-label=\"Read full article about Station 3 closing some nights starting September 1, 2009\">Read full article<span class=\"meta-nav\">&rarr;<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"inline_featured_image":false},"categories":[1,6],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sudbury.ma.us\/fire\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/56"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sudbury.ma.us\/fire\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sudbury.ma.us\/fire\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sudbury.ma.us\/fire\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sudbury.ma.us\/fire\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=56"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/sudbury.ma.us\/fire\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/56\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sudbury.ma.us\/fire\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=56"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sudbury.ma.us\/fire\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=56"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sudbury.ma.us\/fire\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=56"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}