By Austin Moran
The Ridgefield Press

Editor's Note: The following article appeared in The Ridgefield Press on August 10, 2006. Chief Heather Burford, Ridgefield (CT) Fire Department represents Connecticut as State Advocate for the Everyone Goes Home Firefighter Life Safety Initiatives Program. We are proud to have Heather on the team.

Photo by Scott Mullin Heather Burford's swearing-in at the Playhouse in June brought together all four paid chiefs of the fire department: Richard McGlynn, right, the town's first full-time chief; Richard Nagle, second from left, the second chief; and between them, Louis Yarrish, the third chief. Before Chief McGlynn, the department was commanded by the volunteer chief.

After three months on the job, Fire Chief Heather Burford is getting her - and the fire department's - priorities in order. Changes in safety standards and staffing levels may be the first stamp Chief Burford, who was sworn in on May 8, will leave on her department.

"In three months I feel like I've started to understand how Ridgefield works," Chief Burford said.

One of the crucial cogs in that municipal machine is the fire department, which Chief Burford said contains some of the "best people I've ever seen." The "dedication, concern for the community" on the part of paid and volunteer firefighters makes for a "great starting base to go forward," she said.

Topping the list of requisites for advancement are safety and personnel accountability, which the new chief cited as the "most important areas for improvement" in the department. Procedures like consistent seat belt use and fire equipment familiarization are two routines that need to become standard practice for all 80 of Ridgefield's paid and volunteer firefighters, Chief Burford said.

Soon after taking her place at the department's helm, Ms. Burford said she sent out a questionnaire to all its members, asking what they thought were the organization's strengths and weaknesses, and what each of them would like to change.

From the 30 responses she has received so far, Chief Burford said she has been able to isolate problems like thorough equipment training and on-scene accountability of incident commanders as areas where the department can improve. After more surveys are returned, Chief Burford said, she will "send the data from the questionnaire back to the group" in the hope that she and fire department staff and volunteers can figure out ways to improve the organization's functioning from day to day.

Priorities for dispatch

One aspect of that operation the new chief already knows she will address is "priority dispatch," in which "not every call is going to get lights and sirens." Chief Burford said that for non-life-threatening calls, like those for a twisted ankle, Ridgefield's two ambulances can travel with the flow of traffic instead of racing ahead of motorists with their sirens blaring.

"Every single time we go lights and sirens, there's a risk," Chief Burford said.

She added that for priority dispatch to be effective, department personnel will have to elicit more specific information from people calling 911. The fire department has to "err on the side of caution," Chief Burford said. "If you don't have good information, you have to assume the worst."

Chief Burford added that the department is also considering the creation of a volunteer database of Ridgefielders with special medical needs that can be consulted by EMS crews while en route to a crisis or during a townwide emergency, like a power outage or a heat wave.

Another means for Ridgefield's firefighters to become more effective is to adopt more stringent procedural standards. As of now, Chief Burford said, the fire department is like "five separate departments," four of which are controlled by the captains and lieutenants of each shift, while the volunteer component operates largely on its own. "Establishing good relationships" and clearer standards will help foster department-wide compliance, Chief Burford said.

New staffing

Currently, the Ridgefield Fire Department operates in six-member shifts, with two firefighters assigned to each of the two engines and two to the active ambulance. In the event of multiple emergency medical calls, firefighters from one engine will temporarily man the department's backup ambulance, which is usually left unstaffed. That brief decommissioning of one of the department's concerns. Chief Burford said she will propose a new staffing management rubric to the Fire Commission this week.

Under the proposal, the positions of assistant chief and day firefighter will remain vacant for a year. The money freed up by such a move will allow the department to add one firefighter to each shift, with "little or no" supplementary expense, Chief Burford said, at least for first 12 months.

Such a staffing plan skirts the question of a replacement for former assistant fire chief Nick Gaeta, who retired under pressure from the town in early April after being passed over for the top slot in the department.

Chief Burford said that another hand on each shift would mean the fire department would not have to be as "creative" with its staffing regarding its motorized equipment. As of now, Chief Burford said, the fire department covers "34 square miles with two pieces of fire apparatus that are understaffed."

Despite those challenges, Chief Burford said she was excited by other initiatives within the department, notably the donation of an all-terrain vehicle, which will enable firefighters to keep Ridgefielders safe in the town's nearly 3,000 acres of open space.

One of the projects she is most excited about, however, is more personal. As of last week, she is officially a Ridgefielder, having moved to a house in town.

"I think it's important that the fire chief live in the community," Ms. Burford said. It adds another "layer of commitment" to the job.