By Ann DeMatteo
North Haven, Conn. — It will take about a week to find out exactly went wrong when the town's three volunteer fire companies were not dispatched at the same time as firefighters from headquarters during Saturday morning's fatal blaze.
"It's a fact-finding mission. We don't have all the details (yet)," Police Chief James X. DiCarlo said Tuesday.
"It appears the volunteer companies were not dispatched at the same time. Part of the investigation will see why they were not simultaneously dispatched," Fire Chief Vincent Landisio said.
Fire and police officials Tuesday morning started to review tapes of the 911 transmissions and radio broadcasts following the first 911 call that alerted emergency personnel to the 3:40 a.m. fire at 60 N. Hill Road that killed Michael Sheehan, 45. The homeowner, Mark Gaudio, escaped without injury.
Fire union and department officials have said the death is in no way connected to the staffing or dispatching issues. Ordinarily, the paid firefighters at headquarters and all three volunteer companies are dispatched to fires at the same time. The dispatch center is in the police station.
Fire union members on Monday expressed "grave concerns" over what they believed were staffing and dispatching errors during Saturday's fatal fire. Lt. Jeffrey Obier, president of Local 2987 of the International Association of Fire Fighters, said there was a delay of about 3 1/2 minutes in dispatching volunteer companies, resulting in seven career firefighters being on the scene with no backup for more than six minutes. Similar problems have occurred in the past, he said.
Landisio said Tuesday that all the volunteers who responded arrived between six and 23 minutes after they were dispatched. Thirtytwo firefighters were at the scene, according to a recount Landisio did Tuesday. Originally, he said about 25 firefighters were present.
The dispatch center is manned by one civilian dispatcher and one police supervisor per shift. On Saturday morning, the dispatcher was Christine Midolo and the supervisor was Sgt. Marc Fasano, DiCarlo confirmed.
Midolo and Fasano have been interviewed, but will be interviewed in more depth as the internal investigation continues, DiCarlo said. He expects the probe to be wrapped up by next week.
"I am very confident that the police supervisor and the civilian dispatcher did their jobs appropriately with the limited resources they have," said Officer Michael Compare, police union president.
Landisio also said he has asked the volunteer Co. 2, Montowese, for an accounting of its personnel on that morning because the company sent out only one truck, when it usually sends two to a scene in its section of town.
The fire union last year brought its dispatching concerns to the fire chief and Board of Fire Commissioners. Landisio and DiCarlo headed up a study and some problems were resolved. But Landisio, in a report to the fire commission, said that one way to improve dispatch of fire apparatus would be to increase the personnel assigned to the emergency dispatch center.
The town has four dispatchers. "An additional dispatcher should be added, at least during peak call volume hours ... the report said.
Compare said that the Police Department needs more dispatchers, and that more firefighters are needed. He noted that DiCarlo has made the request for more dispatchers on several occasions, and it's an issue the police union has also broached in the past. |
