By Rod Hansen
Staff Writer

Observer/Bruce Preston Goffstown Firefighter John Reilly demonstrates the use of a thermal imaging camera on Tuesday, April 4. The camera is used during structure fires to located pockets of fire hidden behind walls, or to help locate people in a dark or smokey environment. The department has recently seen an increase in the number of fires in the town.

The Goffstown Fire Department responded to a call on a recent blustery afternoon – a chimney fire on Goffstown Back Road.

It was a typical call for the winter and early spring months, said Fire Chief Frank Carpentino, when chimney fires and heating units often spark household blazes.

To respond to this call, Carpentino sent three firefighters on an engine from the village fire station on Church Street and two firefighters on a ladder truck from the Pinardville station on Mast Road.

It was a call that left both stations empty of firefighters, until on-call firefighters were able to provide coverage.

“This is something that can happen when a call comes in,” Carpentino said. “It will empty the station until we put out a call for on-call firefighters.”

The use of on-call firefighters is one way Goffstown handles its volume at a time of increasing calls and stagnant personnel.

The department also finds coverage from mutual aid, situations calling for assistance from other departments from neighboring communities such as Bedford, Hooksett and Manchester.

Mutual aid and the use of on-call firefighters is often necessary, Carpentino said, as the Goffstown Fire Department is experiencing a higher call volume than in years past.

The department has experienced a growth in a number of calls compared to the same time span last year. For example, the department received 35 fire calls between Jan. 1 and March 26, an increase of 35 percent over the same time period last year; 92 service calls, more than doubled from 44 in the same period last year; and 459 total incidents, up 14.46 percent from last year.

Keeping track of such numbers is essential to Carpentino’s work as a police chief. He presents a weekly report to the board of selectmen on fire department activity, and also keeps track of call numbers for the state fire marshall’s office. These numbers ultimately end up on the National Fire Incident Reporting database, which keeps tabs on firefighting activity across the nation.

Carpentino cannot pinpoint one area as the cause of increased firefighting activity, but instead points to a number of factors that lead to a higher call incidence.

“A lot of it comes from growth,” Carpentino said; “You can look at the population increase, at the number of single-family homes converted to multi-family units. We’ve seen increases in all areas,” he said.

Despite the increases in activity, fire department personnel remains the same and the budget has gone down since last year.

The department currently has 15 full-time employees, including 10 firefighters in operations, one in fire prevention, one in training, two in administration, and one in nonuniform administration. The department’s three stations are staffed between the hours of 6 a.m. and 6 p.m. on weekdays and 7:30 a.m. through 5 p.m. on weekends and holidays. After hours, and sometimes during daytime hours, the department relies on more than 50 on-call firefighters, along with part-time employees and full-time staff on overtime.

Carpentino had requested five new positions to his staff for 2006, including a second secretary, a second fire inspector and three people to staff the Grasmere station on Tirrell Hill Road. None of those additions were approved during the budget process.

Unlike the number of calls, this year’s budget has seen a decrease from last year. The department’s budget for 2006 is $1,953,488, down from 2005’s 2,030,096.

Just like the volume of fire calls, Carpentino keeps close track of his budget, and how the numbers of today keep pace with the numbers of the year.

It’s a mathematical process Carpentino can recite with actuarial precision.

“When I look at my budget, I divide 100 percent by 12 months, which is 8.33 percent per month,” he said. “So, when I look at the two months covering January and February, I should be at 16.66 percent,” he said, pointing out the fire department has currently spent 14.91 percent of its annual budget.

And this number itself is inflated, Carpentino said, because it includes one-time annual costs such as unemployment and workers compensation.

To check on how he’s keeping pace with his budget, Carpentinio reviews a ledger sheet that contains figures on all 54 accounts covering firefighting operations, spanning a range of items including uniforms, fire operating supplies, and payroll accounts for full-time employees, call firefighters and part-time employees.

Carpentino reviews this ledger line by line to make sure all accounts are in line with their expected monthly growth. He does the same for the 24 EMS budget accounts, making for 78 accounts overall under his supervision.

Carpentino is already in the process for planning his 2007 budget. That process will begin more formally in June, when the employee in charge of each account sends in budget and overtime request forms, which include projections of growth.

That process continues through July, when the preliminary budgets begin to take shape, and into August, when he submits the budget to the board of selectmen.

After that, Carpentino said, the budget is out of his hands.

“Once selectmen get the budget, it’s their budget,” he said, noting that the budget includes selectmen’s changes and subtraction when handed to the budget committee.

Through the exacting budget process, along with the daily and weekly and monthly act of keeping up with the department’s numbers, Carpentino said he has confidentce in the quality of the department’s overall performance.

When asked to comment on the state of the department, Carpentino’s response was entirely upbeat.

“We do our best to provide quality services, and to meet the needs of the community,” he said.