ROWLEY – The Rowley SelectBoard last month eliminated its volunteer fire department and laid off its volunteer firefighters, effective June 30, leaving to new fire chief Daniel Veinot to decide if 16 full-time firefighters are adequate. [However, at press time, the Board of Selectmen agendized an item to designate Fire Captain Cooper Carifio to temporarily assume the duties of the Fire Chief …]
SelectBoard member Cliff Pierce voted against eliminating the call fire department, which will save $30,000 in pay this year for the volunteer firefighters. It passed four to one.
“Once we take this action, we can never get a call fire department back,” Pierce said.
Veinot, a former Topsfield lieutenant, has not started working in Rowley.
The town is experimenting with staffing its fire house with four shifts of four firefighters each, with one being a lieutenant. That will give Rowley full fire protection coverage 24 hours per day. Currently, full-time firefighters are available from 6 a.m. to 6 p.m. The volunteer firefighters were on call at night.
But the SelectBoard members were uncertain if this schedule would work. “We don’t know if this (schedule) will work,” several SelectBoard members said.
Relying on call firefighters for night-time coverage is too risky, Fire Chief Mark Emery told the SelectBoard three years ago. Many of the volunteers live in Hamilton, Salisbury, West Newbury and Haverhill.
Rowley has an arrangement with Ipswich, Georgetown and Newbury that their firefighters will be automatically called to Rowley at night if a fire happens. Most North Shore towns have fire coverage at night. ♦
