Please remember to test your smoke detectors!
Click Here For PowerPoint Presentation on Smoke Detectors 
(You will need to use the "page down" key to advance the screens)

Is Your House Properly Numbered?  Please consider placing 3" reflective numbers on your mailbox.  Every second in the time of an emergency is crucial.  We don't want to waste those precious moments trying to locate your residence!

  Interested in joining the North Branford Fire Department????? 

Current members of the Board of Fire Commissioners are:

Joseph Civitello (chairperson), Donald LaBanca (vice-chairperson), James Blakeslee, Anthony DellaCamera and Angelo Tosi. Board clerk is Diane B. Whalen.

Congresswoman Rosa DeLauro Announces $500,000 Grant to Provide for Simulcast Dispatch System

Pictured are (L-R) Chief William H. Seward III, Company 4 Captain Laura L. Burich, Company 2 Captain Kenneth W. Neubig, Congresswoman Rosa DeLauro, Deputy Chief of Training Robert W. Colangelo, Deputy Chief Anthony P. Esposito Jr. and Fire Inspector John J. O'Brien

On March 23, 2009, Congresswoman Rosa DeLauro visited the North Branford Police Department to announce the receipt of a $500,000 grant from the federal government to allow for the construction of a simulcast dispatch system.  This is necessitated by the topography of the town and the fact that many "dead" spots exist under our current single-transmitter system.  The new system will accommodate Police, Fire and Public Works radio communications.

We Are Very Proud of Our Members' Accomplishments
- 2008 Firefighter I Class -

Eight members of the North Branford Fire Department recently completed Firefighter I training.  Pictured above are (standing L-R) Chief William Seward III, Chairman of the Board of Fire Commissioners Joseph Civitello, Jordan Gleason, Jeremy Kopylec, James Asmus, Arthur Hausman III and Fire Commissioner Donald LaBanca.  Missing from the picture are FFI's Erik Bachmann, Mark Langan, Andrew Seward and Andrew Sherwood.

North Branford Fire Department Presented with 

Life Safety Achievement Award

Fire Chief William Seward, III announced that the North Branford Fire Department has been presented with a Life Safety Achievement Award for the year 2007 by the Residential Fire Safety Institute (RSFI) of Stanton , Indiana . The award was recently presented by Roy L. Marshall, Director of RFSI.

Chief Seward states that for 15 years, this award has recognized the local fire prevention activities that contributed to reducing the number of lives lost in residential fires.  The North Branford Fire Department qualified for this award in the year 2007 because it recorded zero fire deaths in structures during that period.  Although residential fires in the U.S. account for only 20 percent of all fires, they result in 80 percent of all fire deaths.  It has been nearly 25 years since the last residential fire death occurred in this community.  In 2007 a total of 745 fire departments received the Life Safety Awards from RFSI.

According to Marshall , “experience tells us that fire prevention activity and public education can significantly reduce life and property loss from residential fires and these types of activities and very cost effective compared with the traditional approach of relying on fire suppression.”

During fiscal year 2007-08, the North Branford Fire Department responded to 1636 incidents, of which 85 percent were EMS related.  This figure represents a 3 percent increase from the previous fiscal year.  Moreover, 61 percent of the fire departments alarms occur during the period 6:00 am – 6:00 pm.  This is especially important due to the fact that it is a time frame when staffing is at its lowest among volunteers.  Additionally, 31 percent of all requests for emergency medical service require paramedic intervention which is obtained from outside of this town.

From left to right are: Lieutenant Richard Lennon , Company 1; Captain Kenneth Neubig, Company 2; Captain John Onofrio, Company 3; Captain Laura Burich, Company 4 and Deputy Fire Chief Anthony Esposito.

The North Branford Fire Department has completed sixty-seven years of dedicated service to the Town of North Branford, a department comprised of all-volunteer personnel.  During fiscal year 2007-2008 the North Branford Fire Department continued its focus on emergency medical services, life safety, fire suppression and personal safety. The four companies responded to 1,636 calls during the 2007-2008 fiscal year.  The breakdown of calls was 1,430 medical; 206 fire-related calls (includes alarms, and motor vehicle accidents.)  The North Branford Fire Department is constantly training its members in order to keep up with new changes in building construction, HazMat, fire suppression and medical training.  This requires many hours of our volunteers' personal time in order to maintain their skills.  During fiscal year 2003-04, staffing of the primary ambulance was outsourced to Vintech Management Services.  Volunteers still pull roughly 20% of the shifts and are compensated on a pay-per-call program which the Board of Fire Commissioners approved in the fall of 2003.
 

The newest additions to our fleet are two 2006 ambulances, known locally as Ambulance 4 and 44.  These replace 1993 and 1997 vehicles that had exceeded their useful life.  The ambulances are built on GMC 4500 cab & chassis and feature modules built by American Emergency Vehicles (AEV).   The ambulances are identical which allows for a systematic weekly rotation of the frontline vehicle without the concern of staff familiarity with two different modules.  Congratulations to the officers and members of Company 4 who put a great deal of effort into this process and are proud of their new ambulances.

Ambulance 4

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