Letter: Amherst Fire Department Is Stretched Too Thin

During the Amherst Town Council meeting of January 4, 2021, a Town Councilor stated, “we have a massive deficit of housing”. Before the Amherst Town Council begins to make changes to our zoning bylaws, for the purpose of increasing housing units and rectifying a “massive deficit of housing” they need to look first at another, life-and-death deficit growing in our community.

The growing life-and-death deficit is our underfunded and understaffed Amherst Fire Department that watches over our community 24/7, always on duty to provide emergency medical and fire services when needed.  Our town is presently served by only 45 firefighters/paramedics. Not counting our fire chief and two assistant chiefs, this breaks down into a ratio of approximately 1.12 firefighters per 1000 residents.  This ratio is one of the lowest in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts and is deemed to be a risk to public safety. This risk has only become more dire with the COVID-19 pandemic.

The ratio of firefighters/paramedics in Northampton is 2.46 to every 1,000 residents. Northampton’s Fire Department budget is $6.3 million and the AFD budget is $4.2 million dollars .

In 2019, our firefighters/paramedics answered 5775 calls or a total of 128 calls per firefighter. During this same year, the Northampton Fire Department responded to 7394 calls or 106 calls per firefighter.  Our fire department is already stretched too thin and now our Town Councilors are moving to accelerate the growth in Amherst’s population, with no provision for the infrastructure needed to care for our community.

Even aside from the pandemic, Amherst’s need for more EMT/firefighters is pressing. Increasing the Fire Department’s annual budget, prior to increasing housing units, would enable it to make up this deficit in human “infrastructure” rapidly. Until Town Council does this, the safety of us all is jeopardized.

Bonnie MacCracken

Bonnie MacCracken is a 40-year resident of Amherst.