First responders in Hudson continued to push for new measures to alleviate staffing shortages at the Feb. 1 Deliberative Session, including a measure to add four new firefighters/ AEMTs to the fire department.
“Warrant Article 7 seeks voter’s approval to hire four firefighters/AEMTs for a total first-year cost of $527,686,” said Selectman David Morin. “In 2020, the voters approved shift staffing of 11 per shift. We’re looking to improve the shift staffing to 12 per shift with this article. It’s the first step of a three-step plan. The ultimate goal of the fire department is to increase staffing of 14 members per shift.”
With the growing population in Hudson, members of the fire department warned they were they were struggling to keep up with busier calls. Article 7 would have a 10-cent impact on the tax rate and was unanimously recommended by the Board of Selectmen, the Budget Committee, and Fire Chief Scott Tice.
“We’re asking to increase staffing because we have a high rate of multiple incidents, that is having more than one incident at the same time,” Tice explained. “This depletes our staffing and resources to respond to the subsequent calls, which reduces our safety or reduces our effectiveness.”
He argued that trying to handle many simultaneous calls inevitably reduced their response time. The Hudson Fire Department had 2,012 calls within 55 minutes of another call in 2024, 1,113 of which happened within 25 minutes of another call.
“I can tell you that we’ve had several building fires in the last several years where we’ve had reduced resources and increased response times where, solely due to the good work of our people and some luck, those incidents did not turn out to be much worse than what they were,” said Tice. “I hope you will consider this.”
Former Fire Chief Shawn Murray agreed, saying the Hudson Fire Department had been “understaffed for many years.”
“Currently, the engine company located at the Central Fire Station on Library Street is stationed by a crew of two firefighters,” President of the Professional Firefighters of Hudson Brian Clarenbach. “This creates a dangerous situation, as it forces our members who, when they arrive on the scene of a fire have to choose between abandoning a pump on the truck and having no one there to troubleshoot any interruptions in their water supply going to our hose lines.”
He also framed the problem as a safety issue for residents and firefighters. National standards typically recommend four firefighters per apparatus, something Hudson has struggled to achieve.
“On the night of Jan. 13 of this year, I had two ambulance units and a fire truck at my home. It took a lot of resources to take care of the incident that happened there,” said resident Norman Martin. “Having more staff will help alleviate some of these issues, especially when you have sick people out there who depend on the Hudson Fire Department.”
No residents spoke against the article or proposed any amendments. Warrant Article 7 will appear as presented on the March ballot.
