Rescue per diem staffing comes first, chief says

Lebanon Fire and Rescue Chief Dan Meehan (Courtesy photo)

LEBANON - While the projected budget for manning Lebanon Fire and Rescue called for two 14 hour a day per diem staffing and 2 six-hour on call personnel at both fire and rescue, only Rescue is seeing full coverage by paid personnel, Lebanon Fire and Rescue Chief Dan Meehan said on Wednesday.

In a prepared statement sent in response to questions from The Lebanon Voice, Meehan wrote, "The most imported thing for us to do right now is to make sure the ambulance is covered for calls. Station 1 (Upper Cross and Depot) is being covered because it has better facilities and the newer ambulance.

Meehan indicated that two EMS personnel are on duty daily from 6 a.m. to 10 p.m., and then two are on call from home the other eight hours.

He said all along he had stressed to selectmen that keeping an ambulance crew at the stationhouse was the most important coverage.

"Like I have been explaining since doing the budgets, I wanted a budget for coverage but never added people to it, I explained to the selectmen my ideas of coverage, but the most important coverage needed was covering the ambulance," he wrote in an email. "It was the selectmen that added people and hours as an example of coverage and a budgetary idea."

He said now since the departments were combined by town vote on June 9, they have become one budget.

"As of July 1 the ambulance has been covered 24 hours a day with dedicated members who have stepped up to make sure the town is covered," he said.

Currently the wages paid are between $8 to $11 per hour with a flat rate for weeknight coverage from 10 p.m.-6 a.m., and weekend nights from 6 p.m.-6 a.m., he said.