If you’re me, or one of my friends, you know the Westport Fire Department as the guys who show up when the fire alarm goes off while you’re cooking dinner. But they do much more than protect us from our inability to prepare a meal without a smoke signal. In fact, calling them “firefighters” may even be a misnomer. Yes, they battle blazes, but that’s only the beginning.
“Our firefighters' mission and ambition is to protect life and property through prevention, education and suppression. Our proudest moments are to save lives and deliver the highest quality service to those in need,” says Assistant Chief Jeffrey Gootman.
For instance, on a rainy evening in February 2017, an elderly couple confused a boat ramp with a street and drove their car into Saugatuck River. Firefighters were on the scene in minutes, dove in and pulled them from the icy water (the wife survived but the husband could not be revived.) Last summer, two firefighters pulled a man out of a swimming pool on Morningside Drive South moments before he drowned. And firefighters were first to test the air at Coleytown Middle School this fall, after scores of students were sent home with flu-like symptoms.
They’ve delivered babies, rescued workers from trenches and saved the life of a woman with an automated extended defibrillator (AED) after she had been clinically dead for 4 minutes.
When they’re not performing cape-worthy heroics, they’re teaching your children and seniors about fire safety and raising money for veterans and disabled individuals.
Here are some extraordinary WFD numbers:
19,000: Number of man-hours spent training in 2018. Training includes all manner of terrifying rescue (cold water, trench, building collapse, vehicle extrication) and other disciplines.
4,036: Record number of calls they received last year from stakeholders (residents and visitors).
82: Number of calls for actual fires.
67: Number of firefighters in Westport. Of these, 54 are EMTs, 13 are paramedics.
15: Number of firefighters on duty during each shift.
Under 5 and Over 65: Ages of highest risk groups for fire incidents.
4: Number of fire stations around town: headquarters on Post Road, Coleytown, Greens Farms and Saugatuck.
3: Number of times my son, as a kindergartner, fact-checked 911, causing firefighters to be dispatched to our residence.
1: Number of minutes it takes our firefighters to get dressed and out of the firehouse during an incident.
Countless: Number of specialty areas within the WFD, including:
Hazardous Materials Response Team, Fairfield County Hazardous Incident Response Team (FCHIRT)
Lt. Tobias Ostapchuk
“Hazmat is the end of the line in the public safety response chain. In most instances, no other resources are coming in after the Hazmat team. Our team mitigates anything and everything that our front-line public safety professionals (fire/police/EMS) cannot handle.
“With our AreaRAE meter package, we can monitor for combustible atmospheres, carbon monoxide, hydrogen sulfide and oxygen levels. We also are able to detect volatile organic compounds and radioactive materials.”
Technical Rescue
Asst. Chief Brian Meadows
“Most frequent are motor vehicle accidents and extrications… during [which] the vehicle is cut away from the injured occupants using hydraulic rescue tools.
“Last year there were 25 responses for water, ice or swift water rescue.
“Rope rescue, low or highangle is another area of concern, in the event a [construction] worker gets injured and is unable to return to the ground on their own. Using rope rescue equipment, firefighters will safely rescue the injured worker.”
Communications Response Team
Asst. Chief Matt Cohen
“[We] respond to scheduled and large-scale emergency scenes. The team aids the incident commander in setting up a command post, providing tactical communications and procuring necessary resources. The team [also] augments a public safety communication system in times of failure. The team’s response vehicle is outfitted with deployable radios and on-board radio infrastructure. It also has an outfitted conference room for use as a command post.”
“[Recently] the team responded to the tornadoes in Brookfield. The team was deployed for multiple operational periods and provided interoperable radio communications, on-scene data solutions, as well as a command post for the Operations Chief.”
Combined Police and Fire Dive Team
Lt. Todd Denke
“The team includes six WFD members, five Police Department members and one EMS paramedic. Each month's training is put on by two members of the team and focuses on skills such as search patterns, vehicle recovery, night dive, etc. In the event of an incident, the dive team is paged to respond. The on-duty divers work with responding personnel to perform size-up and get the ball rolling until off-duty divers arrive.”
Fire Prevention and Public Fire Education
Fire Marshal Nathaniel Gibbons
Responsible for fire code enforcement and education for children, senior citizens and venues such as Slice of Saugatuck.
According to the fire marshal, the most common causes of fires in Westport are carelessness and human behavior, such as throwing ashes in garbage bins and not checking propane appliances such as gas grills (which is the first thing I did after speaking with him.) He also stresses the importance of having a home fire plan: every family member should have two exits from their bedrooms and a meeting spot outside the home. Knowing your family is safe affords firefighters valuable time to save your home instead of searching for occupants (which is the second thing I did after speaking with him.)
A huge thank-you to the firefighters who risk their lives every day to save ours, who smile graciously at cooks who set off fire alarms and who understand that 911 is a magical number for young children.