The city and firefighters’ union have agreed to a memorandum of understanding that changes the future staffing distribution of the New Haven Fire Department and creates a potential path to cutting required staff levels.
As compared to the collective bargaining agreement that expired in June 2018, the agreement mandates two squads, tactical and special operations companies, each be replaced with a Heavy Rescue/tactical company and an additional Advanced Life Support, or ALS, unit, bringing the department’s total to three.
Under the agreement, Fire Chief John Alston can, as an alternative, instead choose to decrease the number of firefighters required to be on shift at one time from 72 to 69 by eliminating the department’s ALS units, then, picking one of two options: ensuring the department has 60 medics to staff 10 paramedic engines or deciding to “drop or pause ALS service.”