one department down wont be missed. there's Hopkins hill and many other in the area. no surprise the CCFD is broke. its run within a corrupt state full of greed and lies from town and state officials. asking tax payers to cough up more money so you can misuse it again is just an outrage. Shame on the town for not investing more of an interest in what the taxpayer dollar goes toward. The people who do pay tax in coventry or any town in RI for that matter are already over taxed on everything else. find the problems within your state an local town structure before you try to squeeze more hard earned money from our wallets.

Had the hard choices been made--close a station, 8 per shift rather than ten or Wage reductions we could have gotten a budget that was affordable

Why should the "tax payers" in the other districts use up and make unavailable to them the resources they have payed for to answer your calls.

Do you think the response time will not change.

Do you think they will even be available to respond.

Do you think your hazard insurance premiums are not going to sky rocket.

You truely have set a price to life and I hope you are the one who has to dial 911.

If a person was to collapse in full arrest from a cardiac event minutes is very easily the difference between life and death. If a well trsined rescue responds within 1 1/2 minutes you have approximately 80% survival rate, every minute after that your survival rate drops by 10%! Go ahead and close 5 stations and have another donut but remember this, leave the light on so maybe that distant EMS unit will find you.

I'm disgusted by this vote. I can't believe people voted against this when the fire district was willing to do a lot on their end to help this awful perdicament we ended up in. A price on life is what they did. Thanks thanks a lot. So it's gonna take a life to make people rethink their vote? I hope it's not yours.

Well where to start the lies from the merger yrs ago where they rammed it down our throats and scared the older folks saying it was going to hurt the service they offer or the fact 6 yrs later they haven't collected taxes!!! Bought fire trucks that are too big for half of the streets in the town huge pensions for the unions and they want us to except a big tax hike and say it's ok !?!? Time for our town council to wake up and why didn't they say something ? Are they getting a piece of the pie too??? Time to bring back the volunteers to the district , the other districts have no issues why can't central Coventry? OH wait cause if the UNION !! So let all of the members PAST and PRESENT get investigated cause where is the money for the pension too??

Mutual aid is used when one city is busy and another can help out. But it only works if you have the resources to return the favor. No city is going to help out when they will receive nothing in return.

bend over
I am not one of the Coventry ff's but I think I know a lot more of what I am talking about then you and your internet bullying. When you do not like the truth you resort to names and rude comments, you sir are everything that is wrong with this town. GROW UP !

Is it possible to train chimps to fight the fires, I hear they work for bananas.

I would take a training course and mind my own property if that was an option. Or maybe its time to have a volunter fd?

Aside from that I do not want to pay more taxes. Im sure there could have been a better option.

We're over taxed as it is...big time. compared to the other cities and towns.

I hear all this talk about using other departments, the only ones outside of coventry are Scituate, Foster, West Greenwich all of them are mostly volunteer and has response problems of thier own. West Warwick can barely keep up with thier own responses so they maynot be available when the remaining Coventry Districts are busy. Listen to the scanner and you maybe suprised at how many EMS calls there are.
Scituate has been giving volunteer EMS responders a per-diem stipend to insure response times.
Diem

The people have spoken. Enough is enough. Tax rate outrageous. Time to sell off the outdoor grills, campers. and rec halls/ has nothing to do with firefighting.
Buy and launder your own clothing, We do.
If the tax rate continue as they are, The problem may correct itself as there be no taxpayers in Coventry, That have not been forced out.. How many firefighter are required to fight fires in vacant homes, Buildings??? Your firefighting abilities are to be commended. You spent as if money grew on trees. perhaps at your wages it does appear that way...
Pay your own health care like the rest of the working class.

It defies logic that just 228 voters in the Central Coventry Fire district have decided that rather than pay an increase in their fire tax they will let their Fire Department and emergency services be desovled and liquidated and cause 50 firefighters lose their jobs. Mear minutes in medical emergencies and fires are the difference between life and death and with no emergency services close at hand, the residents of Central Coventry will be in a very dangerous situation if not deadly. They will be at the mercy of other districts who may or may not be able to arrive in time to save a life or a home. I say SHAME ON YOU CENTRAL COVENTRY VOTERS!

Please, let's get it straight. First of all for those who don't know, don't blame the town council, the town has nothing to do with the fire districts. Each district is a seperate entity allowed to exist and levy taxes as set forth by the State legislature many years back. Secondly, there was a clerical error that was not corrected for a few years which was noted but not acted upon. Third, and most important. Most of the country works very well with volunteer fire departments or a combination of paid firefighter and volunteers. This has been a very long tradition and the volunteers are welcomed and appreciated. Forth, ALL of the districts had volunteers, usually fully staffed by volunteers. Fifth, the volunteers that do serve on the departments receive the same training as our paid departments, as a matter of fact, Western Coventry was the only district in town, if not in the State, to have Nationally Certified Firefighters, the training was in Connecticut. And lastly, many of the paid, union firefighters began their careers as volunteers.
I really don't think the answer is to liquidate the District because you will be without protection, the other Districts will not be coming in an mannig your stations. It is unfortunate that these events have transpired, but everyone has to come forward and work to get Central back up and running again, just like the past storm, IT'S TIME TO DIG OUT AND GET MOVING FORWARD TO WORK.

I was very supportive of combining fire districts years ago, as there was no need to have 5 chiefs, 5 tax collectors, 5 this and 5 that.....cripes you think this was a country, not a town. In any case, the savings were not forthcoming and the problem has gotten worse. But, the icing on the cake is when the taxpayers as a whole, are asked to pay a tax liability that's owed by another taxpayer for the town's assessment "error?" (a dubiously questionable accounting error at that).......no one at the meeting received any benefit from his tax break..........so why are we paying for it? In my opinion, the "fire tax" option should go away (Mr. Raptapkis are you listening, this may require some emergency legislation!) and the full control of all fire districts be placed under control of the town council.......................one budget for all departments. Less meetings, less paperwork, less bureaucracy equals less BS. Now think, we could have 1 chief......... some savings..............one tax bill printing, more savings..........3 or 4 less tax collectors (you may need 1 or 2 additional personnel at the tax collectors office) certainly a plus..........a larger group for a better rate for health insurance, certainly holds some promise for savings, maybe a better rate of diesel......................am I making sense yet? Economy's of scale have better purchasing power......................If I ran my business like the fire department was run, I been out of business in 1-2 years

I vote on franks idea. Makes alot of sense. Its a town, not a whole state. We dont need all these chiefs. It would fix everything if they just all consolidated and made it all just one unit throughout the state. Now theres going to be a few firefighters under hidden names bitchin on this comment board, but its time to get real. I dont care if its run by district. change it, change it now before many more go down.

Less fireman is the answer. Why pay for them to go on diability when they're 40? They retire at 40 or 45, collect their pension and get another job after working an average of 3 1/2 days a week for 20 years!
Why build state of the art , 5 bay fire stations with full gym's and meeting rooms and kitchens? COA's, Full medical...ect.ect. Greatest job there is. 20% of them are over-weight to begin with. We do need emt's, but we dont need that many full time fireman to fight what, 2 or 3 fire's a year. Gimmie a break. This isn't New York City.

CCFD prides on professionalism and we deserve nothing but the best showing up in case of emergency is what I keep hearing. I have to say I was a bit intimidated walking into the meeting Monday night as CCFD personal lined the sides of the foyer with arms folded, backs arched looking at everyone like we were scum of the earth. Then on exit after the votes were counted walking out screaming and yelling about how the people are stupid and how we'll get what we deserve and so on all the way to their vehicles. Then get in and tear off out of the parking lot and down the road. Real professional guys ,nice job. On a side note my wife volunteers for an EMS service. When the tones go off they flock to the scene. It can be quite funny at times what shows up , may be the family wagon full of grocery's or a stake body with some bails of hay. Some may be in pajamas or have ripped jeans. Bottom line is THEY ARE THERE SAVING THAT LIFE. It does not matter what you show up in or how you are dressed and they are all good people. They are there doing it because they want to help and could care less of the pat's on the back. Those people are out there !!

I know how it works , I come from a family of ff's (In a different town) I grew up in a fire station as my father was a deputy chief for many years. I know how paid permanent vrs volunteer mix like oil & water. I was just making the point that there are good ppl out there that will volunteer and are capable of the task at hand. At some of the meetings and on the internet comments were made basically in a hut shell pushing any volunteer thought aside as it's not worth while and does not work out in the end. In some cases I agree as I have seen it first hand but in these times & in this economy a way to make it work needs to be found. Many other districts & departments have found a way somehow. The current system in place just does not work as we all see. We all need to find a way to live within our means. If I cant pay my bills I can not ask my employer for more money. If my employer cant make payroll they find a way to cut so they can continue to move forward.If not the for sale sign goes on the front door.

Another comment I see a lot is " do you expect us to work for free". NO I DO NOT !! but .... In my years of employment I went from paid full bore Blue Cross , matching pension , paid holidays , OT , sitting on unused time etc to a United health detectable plan (that sucks !) I pay half of along with high copays , restructured a few times over to save the company more over the years passing their savings on to us paying more. No matching pension now , ot is history , have to work holidays , no more holding unused time blah blah blah. Not to mention no raises in the past 4 years. It's a real hoot when the cost of living goes up 5% every year let me tell you. There are many more but the point is made. I had to give up lot's to keep my employment there. It's just how the country is now. Not a single person expects anyone from CCFD to work for free or give up ALL benefits in place. But they can certainly come down to the level most of us blue collar Coventry taxpayes are at now.

ITS TIME FOR THE TOWN TO HAVE ONE FIRE DEPT.

The problem is not with the other districts, it's with central. The others have found a way to make it work without asking for a 50% increase along with a possible secondary tax on top that just may add up to a 100% if not more for the next 5 years. And those numbers if passed would never come back down. We would never level off where the other districts would catch up rather just keep increasing when they do.Therefor CCFD would always be double the rate of any district in RI. Maybe instead of me looking into how they do it maybe Central should have done that so it would not have come to this. Thats right they knew it wouldnt work to begin with. In any event it is what it is and it's time to move on. IMO Fire & Police will never get enough,a price can not be put on the jobs they are faced with. If it were HONEST spending I would pay 10.00 per thousand to support them. But it was dishonest spending knowing the whole time. How many raises, perks & benny's have you gotten in the last 3-4 years? (if your not on CCFD's payroll) What did they get and how could that be without raising district taxes at all. Where did all that extra money come from ? They knew dam well and took advantage while they could then bailed before it hit the fan. That I will not pay for nor bail out ! The ff's are not to blame but I do believe they could have tightened the belt a bit more to save their jobs. Whats better, take a few steps down the ladder or get shoved off and fall to the ground?

Seltzer, union leaders, board of directors looking the other way, apparatus being purchased without voter approval, enough said...

Sad that only 432 registered voters turned out for this "important" vote.... although realizing that some of those voters were unable to attend as they had to work to support their family...

I am NOT a coventry firefighter, nor am I a Central Coventry Fire district resident. With this said the district has a huge problem, pay and increase tax to keep your Fire and Rescue personnel who respond to 3200 + runs a year (last years numbers) or dissolve it and face increased insurance premiums for both residential and commercial properties and when there is an emergency hope someone is available to respond. I saw a bumper sticker on line which states "what is someone called 911 and no one came?".

This IS a possibility here with this vote taken.
I live in the neighboring district, people are saying that the resources I pay for are now going to be needed to cover your district ..... Is that fair to me? I pay $2.80 per on thousand dollars, you guys are complaining at increasing a rate of $1.82 per one thousand. You have 40-50 employees at that rate, we have 10. The Other districts in town pay between $1.42 and 1.74 and have far fewer employees than you and are only paying a few cents less.
Now your ISO (Insurance Services Office) classification rate will go from a 5 to a 10, which will increase your property insurance $300 - $500 a year. As collateral damage because I am a neighboring district and the district use each other for mutual/ automatic aid; my ISO rate is going up from a 6 to a 9, increasing my rates and I can not do anything about it. I could not speak at your meeting, nor vote against it.
So what is your plan if Judge Stern okays the plan to liquidate, use my services? What if my neighbor or I need them? I do not blame the firefighters, they are a captive group being abused by some taxpayers here, your problem is with their management. Where are those people, call them out! These employees are no different than firefighters accross this country, they work very hard and I appreciate what they do!
You need to sit down calmly, rationally, and work to solve this problem without lossing services or burdening districts and communities.

Hey Ben Dover
Bend over one more time and get your head out of your ass

This is a description of the Central Coventry Fire District straight from their website.

The Central Coventry Fire District is a quasi-governmental entity created by legislation to provide for the fire protection, suppression and emergency medical services for all properties that are located within the geographical boundaries of the Central Coventry Fire District. The Central Coventry Fire District is an entirely separate entity from the Town of Coventry, we are completely autonomous.

The Fire district is governed by a seven member Board of Directors whom is elected annually by the people that reside within the district. In order to be able to provide such essential services, the district is enabled by Rhode Island General Law to levy a separate tax which is called a "Fire Tax". This fire tax is used 100% to operate the fire district and to provide the essential services to the public.

Along with the emergency services provided, the Fire District is also required to provide, maintain, and pay for the street lighting within the Central Coventry District, as well as pay for the rental and usage of fire hydrants from the Kent County Water Authority.

The Central Coventry Fire District is the largest & busiest Fire District in the Town of Coventry and in the State of Rhode Island, we employee 52 full-time employees, working out of five fire stations. Our emergency response area spans out over 26 square miles of land.

I had a fire in my home before the departments merged. Called 911 and then my husband. Both were 1.5 miles from my house. My husband arrive first, (volunteer from another town) had the fire out and house ventilated before the trucks even left the station. Also if we are paying our taxes why do we still need to pay for ems transport to the hospital? Isn't this what our taxes are supposed to pay for? I do feel bad about the fireman losing there jobs because a few are frienda of mine. But the men that are running the show need to figure something out.... Like possibly taxing on what our homes are really valued at not over $200,000 more than they are worth.

From a outsider listening and read about what is going on. I know that test of the people in the town are going to pay for CCFD problems, but it appears shutting it down is the only choice left. Some want to find out who is to blame for the problem instead of correcting the problem and then finding out is to blame. It like locking the barn door after the horse is stolen.

Can someone tell me why Volunteers were no longer accepted at CCFD? To me... this seem kind of stupid to get rid of the people that are volunteering. Also... can someone tell me why we needed a brand new 100" Tower Ladder in Central Coventry when we already have/had 3 in town that function just fine for the very few times they were used anyways?

3 ladders that is...NOT tower ladders... Didnt want to get yelled at for being misinformed.

Just me... thanks for the Info. Wouldnt two ladders be enough to cover the town? West Warwick only uses 1 and they have far more calls? Second... Why did the volunteers have to test to get on the fire dept in the first place? Does not answer why they ever stopped the Volunteer program?

Continuity in service, Guaranteed response with the knowledge that all ff's on the trucks were minimally qualified at an ALS level. It also take responsibility off the district if a volunteer gets hurt. There is an instance where the District in town ( not going to say which one ) had a ff fall off the truck doing routine fire duties. This cost the district tons of money,last I heard they also are now responsible for this individual and his medical bills indefinitely. So there is lodgic to why things happen. I would not want to be the Chief of a department where an 18 or 19 y/o volunteer loses his life doing a hobby. I respect the volunteers and know that probably 99% of them use this type of service to become full time. Just in modern times with all the law suits and new regulations as well as training, time, and other lifetime issues it really isn't feasible anymore. I would like to know what type of service I'm getting 24/7, not wondering is it a BLS or ALS, did they get the truck out or is it coming from another town, Fires double by the minute, and brain and Cardiac Cells by the second. I just don't want to take the chance to put my family at risk with those type of odds. I personally think one town wide department would be great. As far as the ladder is concerned as long as the departments remain separate the ISO and ins ratings will be reflected by individual departments, though consideration is made with outlying apparatus. Having the Tower helps lower ins rates.

Sorry should have said Brain and Cardiac cells die by the second, my typo. I am not slamming volunteers either, I just think having a full time service benefits all and takes a major liability off the district of a person gets hurt.

Just Me - I want to thank you and commend you for bringing the issues to the table and explaining the realities of running a fire district. Much of this information is not known by the general public - which leads to comments from people who do not take these things into consideration. These people need to know what their taxes pay for and how important it is to have these services we often take for granted. Thank you!

@ Justin, FYI .... When talking about comparing volunteer vs. career firefighter deaths. In 2009 there were 41 vol compared to 31 career. In 2010, there was 45 vol deaths compared to 25 career. In 2011, there was 35 vol deaths compared to 21.( Per NFPA) Volunteer injury rates responding to, from, and on fire scene are higher also; again per NFPA website!

Now I see where your ignorance is, the term "fire department" is a misnomer! Our fire departments are actually "All hazards response agencies", they respond to medical runs, fires, electrical and water emergencies, chemical leaks and spills, motor vehicle accidents, and whatever someone calls 911 for. That is why they have a call volume of 3200-3500 runs a year.

3200 calls a year is a lot to ask from volunteers. I work at a combination fire department (volunteer and paid) where we only run 2500 a year at the bls level and we have a lot of trouble getting enough responders out of the station. Running at the Als level is very advanced and requires a lot if training. When you have a fire department based ambulance in a busy service area,I personally am not comfortable waiting for you to leave the grocery store to pick up the ambulance to come help me. I hope you guys an figure out how to save these very important jobs.

Justin, you need to read up on facts before spouting off.... these firefighters respond to a plethora of calls, both emergency and non emergency but they treat every call professionally. Coventry covers a large area too.