MMA Study Analysis

In March 1989 the Town of Chelmsford received the results of a Public Safety study 
conducted by the Massachusetts Municipal Association (MMA) Consulting Group, Inc. 
and commissioned by Mr. Bernard Lynch, then Executive Secretary for the town.

  
Part 1 of this study focuses on Fire Department operations. Although the conclusions and recommendations of the study are clear and insightful they are perhaps even more relevant in light of the crisis the Fire Department now faces in the summer of 2001.  The report is unequivocal in its recommendations from the Fire Department.  Reference Recommendation
 #11 on page 19, “Maintain the present 14 person staffing available for emergency response”, and also Recommendation #46 on page 46, “No station should be closed”.

  
Further acknowledgement is made to N.F.P.A. 1500’s standard of four men on an engine company as standard (p.19), the importance of “five strategically located fire stations” (p.44) and the town’s steady growth over the past 15 years, “with substantial growth in the multiple occupancy, residential, commercial and industrial areas” (p.4).

  
While the town has continued to grow since 1989 in all areas – population, single-family homes, multiple occupancies, school-age children, number of new streets, and commercial and industrial enterprises, so has the call-volume of the Fire Department increased.  For example, the year 1989 showed a response to calls while in the year 2000 the Fire Department responded to calls.  The Fire Department will continue to respond to any and all calls for help from our residents, people passing through our town and, through mutual aid agreements, to other cities and towns in our area.

The problem is while the town continues to grow and the scope and nature of our responses expands,
Mr. Bernard Lynch, now Town Manager, has decided to take a chance with public safety, reducing on-duty firefighting personnel from 13 to 8 (a 38% decrease) and directing the Fire Chief at his discretion to close Engine 3 on Old Westford Road which is first due in West Chelmsford and
Engine 4 on Riverneck Road which is first due in East Chelmsford.

We will continue to be there when we are needed.  We will always be loyal to our duty. 
Unfortunately, now we will be coming from further away and arriving with fewer men.

Master Plan Review