Date: Fri 23-Jan-1998

Publication: Bee

Author: ANDYG

Quick Words:

Garner-fire-mutual-aid-pact

Full Text:

Town's Fire Commissioners Reach Agreement With Garner

BY ANDREW GOROSKO

The Board of Fire Commissioners and Garner Correctional Institution have

reached an agreement explaining the steps local volunteer firefighters would

take as "secondary responders" to emergencies at the state's high-security

prison on Nunnawauk Road.

Commission Chairman Kevin Cragin signed the pact with David P. Hardt, Garner's

fire safety officer. Mr Hardt, who is a state Department of Correction (DOC)

employee, has been designated as the town's special deputy fire marshal for

Garner by the fire commissioners.

The written agreement between the town and Garner states the town will provide

help in emergencies, when requested, at the 265,000-square-foot prison and its

115-acre grounds. The agreement does not cover the larger, adjacent

state-owned Fairfield Hills campus. In the late 1980s, the state designated

the 115 acres, on the eastern edge of what was then Fairfield Hills, as the

site for Garner.

Fairfield Hills is 650-acre parcel, containing 140 structures that enclose 1.5

million square feet of space.

In May 1997, the fire commissioners canceled a longstanding mutual aid

firefighting agreement between the town and the Fairfield Hills Fire

Department in which the town served as the secondary responder at Fairfield

Hills.

Guidelines

The Garner agreement includes a set of "standard operating guidelines" that

town firefighters would employ in dealing with emergencies at Garner.

The guidelines involve structure fires, brush fires, car fires, bomb threats

and hazardous materials incidents.

Under the terms of the agreement, Garner personnel, plus the prison's

elaborate fire suppression systems, will provide "primary" fire protection

there. Garner staff members receive firefighting training annually.

To help town firefighters prepare for possible emergency duty at the prison,

Garner officials have agreed to provide the town with floor plans of the

institution and radio equipment for communications between the town and

Garner. Also, Garner will provide town firefighters with semi-annual tours of

the prison so they can familiarize themselves with its layout.

The agreement contains a clause which allows either the town or Garner to

unilaterally cancel the agreement within ten days, provided that written

notice of such cancellation is provided. Also, the agreement will be subject

to annual review by the town and Garner.

Newtown Fire Department

Mr Cragin said Tuesday that the term used in the agreement, "Newtown Fire

Department," collectively refers to the five volunteer fire companies in

Newtown.

Which fire company or companies will respond to a given incident at the prison

will depend on the nature of the call and the time of day, he said.

The Garner grounds fall into Newtown Hook and Ladder Volunteer Fire Company's

designated fire district. Each of the five fire companies has a geographical

district within which they have the primary responsibility for firefighting.

In the event a secondary responder is needed at Garner, Newtown Hook and

Ladder alone, or Newtown Hook and Ladder and another fire company or companies

might be dispatched, depending on the specifics of the call, Mr Cragin said.

The volunteer fire companies have a series of protocols governing which fire

companies are dispatched to which incidents in town under varying

circumstances and times of day.

Unlike the more common "mutual aid agreement" between two fire companies in

which the two companies mutually agree to aid each other when requested, the

agreement between the town and Garner is one in which the town would aid

Garner, but Garner wouldn't be expected to aid the town, Mr Cragin said.

Besides the inmates at Garner, there are many civilians working there who

would need help in the event of an emergency, according to Mr Cragin.

In light of the vastly diminished presence of firefighting staff at Fairfield

Hills, "We wanted to... help the fire safety officer (Hardt) at Garner," Mr

Cragin said. The Fairfield Hills Fire Department formerly provided "first

response" fire protection at Garner, a role now being taken over by the

prison's firefighting staff and its fire suppression systems.

Mr Hardt had asked for the town's help in providing a secondary firefighting

response at the prison, Mr Cragin said, noting the agreement between the town

and Garner was negotiated directly with Mr Hardt, not with state officials in

Hartford.

The town won't receive any compensation for being a secondary responder, Mr

Cragin said.

Local firefighters are professionals who want to be prepared to respond to

Garner in the event they're needed there, he said. The agreement took about

three months to negotiate, he said.

"They (Garner officials) asked us for help because the state pulled the fire

protection up there (Fairfield Hills)," Mr Cragin said. "We worked directly

with them (Garner)," he said.