BELLOWS FALLS, Vt. – After a March 5 recount of a vote deciding the merger of three local fire departments, the results were the same: 191-102 in favor of consolidating the Bellows Falls, Rockingham, and Saxtons River fire departments.
An ongoing debate over a few years’ time, the idea to merge the three departments was originally proposed by Rockingham development director Gary Fox and Bellows Falls Fire Chief Shaun McGinnis, after they had researched, applied for, and received a federal grant to pay for a feasibility study of the possible merger.
Conducted by A.P. Triton Report, the study confirmed that Rockingham cannot successfully support three separate fire departments, especially when one of the current fire stations, Saxtons River, needs significant restoration work.
“After the final decision was made to merge, it was decided the ‘fire committee’ will meet on the third Thursday every month, at the town hall,” McGinnis said in a recent interview.
The decision to merge the three fire stations will allow for quicker response times because firefighters will now be a part of the fire department where they also reside, eliminating the need for responders to drive past a fire station with town-owned equipment they are not authorized to use. Instead, any responder will now be able to simply go to the nearest station and use equipment that is shared by all three stations.
Additionally, taxes will be reduced by the departments working together. The merger will reduce or eliminate redundant or unnecessary equipment, as well as allowing all available equipment to be distributed evenly. The current Rockingham emergency service model is also outdated, and needs to be revised to coincide with the merging of the three fire departments.
“It was recently decided that the first steps should be interdepartmental training, and interdepartmental driver training,” McGinnis said. “This way, all firefighters involved will get working knowledge of each other’s equipment. Other preliminary ideas and target dates were also discussed.”
Another concern from some Bellows Falls residents is the fact that, after approving increased taxes in 2022-2023 to renovate the Bellows Falls Fire Station, they do not feel Bellows Falls should be expected to contribute to the needed repairs of the Saxtons River Fire Station.