By Abigail Ham
The Keene Sentinel
KEENE, N.H. — In response to increasing medical calls, the Keene City Council Thursday approved using $490,000 from the city’s unassigned fund balance to allow the fire department to have two more staff members per shift through the end of the fiscal year. That change means the department will be able to have three ambulances staffed each shift instead of two.
Ward Five Councilor Thomas Powers said the move was an effort to respond to increasing demand for ambulance service.
“Every day, it just continues to increase … The reality is, we’re being called — as is every other fire department around us — for an ambulance every single day, and if we don’t have people there or people coming in, we can’t answer. And that’s not the right thing to do,” Powers said.
The unassigned fund balance is a part of the city’s general fund that is not restricted or earmarked for any specific purpose and can be spent at the council’s discretion.
“This is what we put money away for,” Powers said Thursday evening. “We don’t go [to the fund] every day, we go there sparingly for these kinds of situations.”
IAFF Local 3265 President Rob Skrocki said in January the department’s staffing levels were “dangerous” and “unsustainable.”
The department took about 6,348 calls in Keene and other communities in 2024, up from 4,286 a decade before. According to Skrocki, the department is staffed to handle roughly 3,500 calls per year.
The department is currently staffed to maintain a minimum shift staffing of 10.
According to the union, Keene Fire called in off-duty staff more than 300 times last year. That’s usually a sign the entire duty shift is committed with no additional units available. Having an additional ambulance staffed per shift should help the department avoid having all units committed as often, although it will not reduce the workload on staff.
The $490,000 will cover wage and overtime expenses and benefits for the additional shift staffing level through June.
City Manager Elizabeth Ferland said nursing home calls have contributed to the rise in call volume. She told city councilors Thursday she approached Cheshire EMS, the county-wide ambulance service owned by Cheshire County, about potentially taking over those calls from the Keene Fire Department. Cheshire EMS was not in a position to do so, she said. Cheshire EMS Chief Mark Kreamer confirmed that stance to The Sentinel Friday.
The council’s unanimous approval of the motion was met with the sound of horns and sirens from the street.
The City Council also referred to the council’s Finance, Organization and Personnel Committee a request for an additional $70,000 to fund the hiring of four new firefighters through the end of the fiscal year.
The department has at least four firefighter candidates in the pipeline, according to a Thursday memorandum from Fire Chief Jason Martin, which would help expedite hiring if that additional funding is ultimately approved.
In February, the council authorized applying for a 2024 FEMA SAFER Grant, which would fully fund four firefighters per shift, for 16 total positions, for a three-year period. The city would cover the full cost of these positions after the grant ends.
According to Ferland, applications for that grant haven’t yet opened, and she said her office isn’t sure they ever will. Over-budget ambulance revenue from this year is enough to fund the four new positions through June, Ferland said, but won’t be enough in the next fiscal year.
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