TURNERS FALLS — There was a time when the Turners Falls Fire Department had plenty of call force firefighters at its disposal.
Those days, according to Chief Robert J. Escott Jr., are gone.
The department aims to have 30 members on the call force, but now has just 10. Anxious to increase the force’s depth before he retires at the end of August, Escott is making a public appeal for interested locals.
“(The call force) is the lowest it’s been in my 35 years on the department,” he said.
The chief suspects call force membership is low because people and their families tend to be busier now than years ago, and more activities and responsibilities are competing for people’s time. He said the call force probably responded to 50 to 100 calls per year two decades ago and now it is not uncommon to have a dozen over a weekend.
Escott explained the Turners Falls department has 10 full-time firefighters, and members of the call force serve as part-timers of sorts, getting paid hourly for the calls they respond to. The chief said the department responds to 1,200 to 1,500 calls per year and the call force is sent to roughly 300 to 400 of them. Escott said calls include fires, downed wires, storm damage, flooding, lightning strikes, medical emergencies, car accidents, oil spills, water-and-rope rescues, lost children and more.
The chief said the starting rate is $10 an hour and the department will cover the costs of training anyone interested in joining the call force. Escott said the department trains on the second and fourth Wednesdays of each month and the Massachusetts Firefighting Academy will visit any department in the state to conduct classes. Applications can be picked up at the Fire Department at 180 Turnpike Road in Turners Falls.
The department will conduct a background check on every applicant, who will also need to pass a physical examination by their doctor and a fitness test of push-ups, sit-ups and a mile-and-a-half run. Those that undergo training will be assigned to a call force group and will be expected to respond to calls when alerted via pager.
“Most times, somebody who gets on the Fire Department stays … it’s a very common trait that every one gets a sense of satisfaction out of helping people who are in need,” Escott said.