Fire

The North Haven Fire Department is made up of a Chief, a Deputy Chief, 28 career firefighters (Headquarters Company, 11 Broadway), three volunteer companies (Montowese, 282 Quinnipiac Avenue, West Ridge,
1331 Ridge Road and Northeast, 366 Washington Avenue) and a fire-police unit. All permanent members of the North Haven Fire Department, both career and volunteer, are minimally certified to the Firefighter I level. All of
our firefighters are trained to respond to fire and rescue situations, and our career firefighters are trained to handle medical emergencies.

The training of firefighters continues to be a priority of the department. Training sessions were held daily by our career fire staff and weekly by all of our volunteer companies. Quarterly training sessions are held to familiarize department members with specialized equipment. Classes  are held on skill levels from basic through technical to allow all of our members to remain proficient in their responsibilities. Subject matter experts have been retained to deliver specialized information to all of our members. Internal certification classes were conducted in Firefighter I and Fire Instructor I curriculum to increase the skill level and credentials of our members. Four (4) members of our department are trained to the Hazardous Material Technician level and have been assigned to the regional Haz-Mat team (NHASH). They continually participate in regularly scheduled drills on a regional level to maintain a high skill level. Two (2) of our members have completed training to the Paramedic level of Emergency Medical Services. The North Haven Fire Department has received a federal SAFER ACT grant which will allow the department to hire four (4) additional firefighters. These hires will be crossed trained as paramedics and this will allow our department to begin to run a fire based paramedic service.

Building inspections continue to rise as development within the Town continues in various areas. Retail areas continue to be built and still others are in the planning stages. This continues to increase the workload of the Office of the Fire Marshal which carries the responsibility of plan review, alarm testing and sprinkler testing requirements. In addition annual inspections are required to be conducted at all facilities that serve alcohol, all licensed day care centers, apartment complexes, places of assembly and all of the Town schools.

The North Haven Fire Department truck fleet consists of 7 pumping engines, 1 aerial ladder truck, 2 emergency rescue trucks and 2 command vehicles. In addition, a small boat is available to aid us in water rescues and other functions on our rivers and ponds, an operations trailer has been added to accommodate specialized equipment and a “Gator” is available to us to assist in off road incidents. We also continue to outfit our members with the most modern equipment available allowing us to best serve the needs of the community. This past year we continued to properly outfit our members with personal protective equipment through a capital funding purchase. Technology continues to be added to the department capabilities to assist in our efforts. The department has embarked on a campaign to make us as paper free as possible and to utilize technology to its fullest extent. All of the fire department records, from payroll systems to report writing are now done through computer in our attempt to increase the usage of technology available to us. All of our volunteer stations now have been updated with the necessary computer equipment to allow our volunteer firefighter’s access to the towns’ computer server for record keeping purposes and all of their records are now sent to fire headquarters through the computer system. This has made our department almost completely paper free.

Public education continues to be a major initiative starting in the day care centers and elementary schools and continuing up to civic groups, businesses and senior organizations. The knowledge gained from these educational opportunities helps us to maximize our service and our commitment to you.

The Fire Department, as always, proudly partners with all other Town departments, including the Board of Education, to continue to provide exceptional services to the citizenry that we serve. We are still very proud to partner with the North Haven American Legion in providing flag drop off points at our volunteer fire stations for the convenience of our residents. Residents can drop their flag in the red, white and blue containers located at the front of our three (3) volunteer fire stations.

This past year the department was extremely proud to dedicate fire headquarters in the memory and honor of Chief John P. Rosadini. Chief Rosadini was the first career fire chief in North Haven. His vision and knowledge of this profession built a great foundation for us to continue to expand upon and we are honored to have had the chance to recognize him in this manner.

Fire Statistics

During the fiscal year of January 1, 2009 through December 31, 2009 there were a total of 4,271 alarms, broken down as follows: 2,998 Medical Calls 114 Fires 140 Hazardous Conditions 348 Good Intent Calls 418 False Alarms/ Accidentals 249 Service Calls 4 Special Calls Of the total number of alarms, Headquarters Company responded to 4,271 Montowese Company responded to 268 West Ridge Company responded to 152 Northeast Company responded to 250 & Fire-Police responded to 219 The Montowese Company conducted 56 drills West Ridge Company conducted 38 drills &, Northeast Company conducted 56 drills

Specific things you can do to help us include the following:

1. Use and maintain your smoke detectors properly. Change the batteries twice a year, in spring and fall, when you change the clocks!
2. Abide by the Town ordinance regarding house numbering. House numbers must be at least 3" high. If your home is more than 50' from the street, the number must be at the curb!
3. After snow storms, please help us by shoveling out the hydrant nearest your residence.

Use the following guide when calling 911:

1. Clearly state the address of the incident.
   
2. Clearly state the problem. (i.e. Fire, Medical Emergency)
   
3. Clearly speak your name.
   
4. Give as much detail about the incident as possible.
   
5. If the incident is an Emergency Medical call, you may be asked to stay on the phone for instructions on how you can help.