Date: Fri 28-Feb-1997

Publication: Bee

Author: ANDYG

Quick Words:

Fairfield-Hills-fire-ambulance

Full Text:

Fire Companies Cautious About Taking On Fairfield Hills

B Y A NDREW G OROSKO

Members of the town's five volunteer fire companies are considering the

implications of a state request to have the town supply firefighting services

at Fairfield Hills, the 650-acre state property formerly used as a psychiatric

hospital and farm.

Providing firefighting services there would have the most direct effect on

members of Newtown Hook and Ladder, the volunteer fire company that would

become the "first responder" to Fairfield Hills.

The Board of Fire Commissioners met Monday night at the Dodgingtown Firehouse

to take up the state's Department of Public Works (DPW) request for town

firefighting services.

"This is a big one," said Kevin Cragin, board chairman.

"I think all commissioners should go back to their departments and bring them

up to date on this," he said. Mr Cragin asked that board members gather lists

of volunteer firefighters' questions about the state request.

When all the questions are in, the commission can then pursue answers from the

DPW on the matter, he said.

"I think we would be doing an injustice if we make decisions tonight," Mr

Cragin said.

"Bill McCarthy, you'll have to do a lot of work," Mr Cragin told the Newtown

Hook and Ladder board representative of the need to gather firefighters'

queries.

"This isn't getting slammed down our throat. We don't have to rush into this

thing," Mr McCarthy said of the state request.

"We're going to discuss this at a board level at this point," Mr Cragin said.

The Board of Fire Commissioners will be the agency through which the town

deals with the state on the DPW request, he said.

"I'd be surprised if I get five phone calls next Tuesday that say `OK, let's

go,'" Mr Cragin said of the dim prospects of the five volunteer fire companies

rapidly agreeing to the state's request.

"It's going to take a lot of work," he said.

Mr Cragin said First Selectman Robert Cascella may visit the board at its

meetings to discuss aspects of the state request.

Board member Lisa Goosman cautioned that the DPW may seek to have the town

provide firefighting services soon at Fairfield Hills. She said she fears the

DPW will rush the town into providing fire coverage.

"This decision is going to affect everybody in the town of Newtown. ... It is

going to affect our tax base," said Fire Marshal George Lockwood.

The request will be discussed at the next regularly scheduled board meeting or

possibly at a special meeting, Mr Cragin said.

Determining Uses

Following the board meeting, Steve Murphy, Newtown Hook and Ladder's fire

chief, said Hook and Ladder members will meet soon to discuss the implications

of extending their firefighting coverage.

Fire officials must learn the state's future plans for the Fairfield Hills

property, he said, noting that firefighting requirements for the site would

vary depending upon the land's future uses. Providing fire protection for

industrial development poses different requirements than protecting houses, he

said.

Although the number of fire calls emanating from Fairfield Hills has decreased

as the number of people living there has dropped, the demand for firefighting

will increase as the population swells again, he said. Potentially, there

could be "a couple hundred calls" annually from Fairfield Hills, he said. "Who

knows what's going to happen there," he asked.

During 1996, Newtown Hook and Ladder responded to 489 emergency calls, Chief

Murphy said.

Newtown Hook and Ladder firefighters will be thinking in strategic, tactical

and logistical terms about responding to emergencies at Fairfield Hills, he

said.

Transition

Fairfield Hills is in a period of transition.

Formerly the home to 3,500 psychiatric patients, the institution's population

dwindled in recent years until the state closed it in December 1995, in line

with the Department of Mental Health's (DMH) policy of patient

"deinstitutionalization."

In a 1994 report, the Fairfield Hills Task Force recommended, in part, that

the property have its open space areas preserved; be used for administrative

office space; be economically developed through the reuse of existing

buildings and the construction of new buildings near the Commerce Road

industrial park; be used for educational purposes; and have existing buildings

used for affordable housing and housing for the elderly.

The state has been seeking a major tenant or several smaller tenants to occupy

the core campus at Fairfield Hills.

As currently planned, the state intends to sell more than a dozen small houses

it owns along Queen Street and Mile Hill Road South.

The town offices formerly housed in the lower level of Town Hall South now

temporarily occupy a section of Canaan House at Fairfield Hills. The Booth

Library is temporarily located at Shelton House. The DMH's western district

office is in Canaan House. A drug rehabilitation program known as Addiction

Prevention Therapy (APT) is in Greenwich House. A state credit union office

remains at Fairfield Hills.

The state plans to shut down Fairfield Hills' power plant and "winterize"

buildings there.

A private firm, Tunxis Management Company of New Britain, has been managing

the property for the state. The Pinkerton company is providing security for

the grounds and buildings.

Police Responsibilities

Newtown Police Chief James Lysaght, Jr, said Tuesday, town police plan to

respond to crimes of violence against people at Fairfield Hills.

State police from Troop A in Southbury will be doing investigations involving

motor vehicle accidents and property damage, he said.

Chief Lysaght has met with Troop A Commander Lt James Salzano to discuss law

enforcement responsibilities at Fairfield Hills. Fairfield Hills formerly had

its own police department.

The state Department of Transportation (DOT) is reviewing bids that have been

submitted to build a $4 million bypass road designed to link Route 25 to I-84

and Route 34 via the Fairfield Hills property. The road is intended, in part,

to alleviate truck traffic congestion in the town center. Construction is

expected to start in May or June.

Fire Protection

Currently, the first responder for fire protection at Fairfield Hills is the

Fairfield Hills Fire Department headed by Fire Chief Bill Halstead. The town

has a mutual aid agreement for fire protection with the Fairfield Hills Fire

Department. Under that arrangement, when the town needs help in fighting a

fire, it can call in the Fairfield Hills department to help out. Similarly,

when the Fairfield Hills department needs help, it can call on the town.

The DPW is not seeking to have the town provide firefighting services for

Garner Correctional Institution, a state high-security prison on Nunnawauk

Road. The state Department of Correction (DOC) plans to continue providing

firefighting services for Garner, according to DPW.

The DPW wants to hold negotiations with the Board of Fire Commissioners about

a town takeover of Fairfield Hills firefighting duties, according to DPW

spokesman Patrick Nolan. The DPW hopes to reach an agreement that is

satisfactory to the town and the state, he has said. The negotiations would

cover a possible payment from the state to the town for firefighting services

and the possible donations of the Fairfield Hills Firehouse and/or fire trucks

to the town, among other actions, he said.

Ambulance Service

The DPW also has suggested that the Newtown Volunteer Ambulance Corps provide

ambulance coverage for the Fairfield Hills property, but not for Garner.

Stephen Savarese, president of the Newtown Volunteer Ambulance Association,

said recently if the town feels it's in residents' best interests for the

Newtown Volunteer Ambulance Corps to provide coverage at Fairfield Hills, it

would be considered by the association.

Until the ambulance association knows the future long-term uses of Fairfield

Hills, it doesn't want to provide coverage there, if at all, according to Mr

Savarese. When the future of Fairfield Hills becomes clear, discussions on

whether Newtown ambulances will cover that area will become much more

meaningful, he has said.

Town workers and residents at town facilities at Fairfield Hills can now call

the ambulance corps' routine number to have a Newtown ambulance respond to a

medical problem. Dialing 911 from there for an ambulance, however, will result

in Danbury Ambulance responding.