Last week, an Amherst Fire Department committee recommended that the Department, comprised of both professional and volunteer firefighters, immediately undergo an extensive reorganization and expansion, according to The Daily Hampshire Gazette. The Fire Department doubles as an EMS service, whose department resources are severely strained. The Department has not been reorganized since 1985, and many of its volunteers are students. According to The Gazette, Amherst has fewer on-duty firefighters than any other town its size, and the more than 30,000 college students who reside in the town are the group most at risk in terms of both ambulance calls and fires.

The proposed improvements will cost the Department approximately $250,000, according to The Gazette. In their report, the committee asked that the Department hire five new firefighters, and allot $13,985 to promote four firefighters to the rank of division chief, $40,000 for additional overtime pay and $30,000 in additional training funds. According to The Gazette, the new personnel and overtime money would allow the Department to increase its on-duty personnel minimum to 9 or 10 professional firefighters, compared to the seven it normally has. Other towns in the state with a population of approximately 36,000 average about 16 on-duty personnel.

Often, when the professional firefighters respond to an ambulance call, there is no one left at the station to supervise or coordinate the student volunteers and call volunteers, according to The Gazette. By adding division chiefs, there will always be someone present at the station to coordinate volunteers.

Currently, if a large fire were to occur while firefighters were out of the station at an ambulance call, the Department would be helpless. "The fact that we have not encountered a major fire while our on-duty force has been engaged with EMS activity is pure luck," the committee report reads, according to The Gazette. "In the event of multiple emergency events, precious time is lost and available resources may be committed in error."

According to The Gazette, the fire department does not anticipate that the town will approve additional funding. Instead, Fire Chief Keith Hoyle hopes to receive a five-year federal grant, which will cover approximately 80 percent of the additional costs. Hoyle told The Gazette that if the Department receives the grant, there will be no tax increase until the 2007 fiscal year. According to The Gazette, ambulance receipts and increasing contributions from the University of Massachusetts, Amherst College and Hampshire College will fund the remaining 20 percent of costs.

The committee also recommended re-assigning one firefighter to fire prevention and inspection duties, creating various clerical and mechanic positions and hiring a consulting firm to assess the department's reorganization plans.