Thanks to the efforts of the Old Mystic Fire department and state Rep. Greg Howard, R-Stonington, volunteer fire departments from across the state that respond to calls on limited-access highways such as Interstates 95 and 395 will receive $500 a call from the state.
The payments were instituted in 1959 at $25 per call. They increased to $100 in 1971 and stayed at that amount until 2003, when the law that established them was repealed. Since then, departments such as Old Mystic, which responds to about 40 calls such as accidents, fires and medical emergencies a year on I-95 from exits 88 to 91, have received no payments.