For the past several years, firefighters across the Northeast have seen a growing number of calls for overdoses related to opioid abuse.
Now, members of the New England Division of the International Association of Fire Chiefs, led by several from Connecticut, are calling on elected officials to bring “boots to the ground” to end to the epidemic.
Members of the organization, including Old Mystic Fire Chief Kenneth Richards Jr. and North Farms Volunteer Fire Chief Timothy S. Wall of Wallingford released a statement Friday detailing a five-point call to action that the organization says is necessary to more directly address the growing problem of addiction in today’s society. The statement was unanimously approved by voting members of the New England Division of the International Association of Fire Chiefs at its annual conference in Portsmouth, N.H., earlier this week.