New firefighters, ladder company will put Quincy back to 1985 staffing levels

QUINCY − The city celebrated the addition of a fourth full-time ladder company Tuesday, restoring a level of fire staffing that hasn't been seen in Quincy since the 1980s.

Dozens of current and retired firefighters, union officers and elected officials were inside city hall Tuesday for the announcement, which will go into effect at the July 1 start of the fiscal year pending the city council's approval.

The new ladder truck will be stationed at the Houghs Neck fire station for the time being, putting every home in Quincy within 2½ miles of a "full box" response − an engine for knocking down the fire and a ladder for search and rescue.

"With Ladder 4 going in down the Neck, the residents of Germantown, Houghs Neck and Adams Shore are going to see incredible response times," Quincy Fire Chief Joe Jackson said. "Within five or six minutes, they'll have seven or eight of our members. ... It's incredible."

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The addition was made possible by hiring more firefighters, which also allowed for the promotions needed to ensure a supervisor is with three firefighters for every ladder response. The promotions will cost the city about $85,000 a year, Jackson said.

Starting July 1, the city will have 242 firefighters, the most it has had at one time since 1985. Mayor Thomas Koch said staffing cuts had to be made under the Sheets administration in the 1990s and again in 2008 during the financial crisis.

"It was very traumatic, certainly for those families and the decision-makers," said Koch, who announced he was running for a seventh term as mayor after the announcement. "You don't get into this business to lay people off, but unfortunately tough decisions sometimes have to be made. ... Each year, we've added manpower to the department."

It's the additional firefighters, not a new truck, that made a fourth ladder company possible, said Chris Walker, Koch's chief of staff. Quincy already has enough ladder trucks to make it happen − Jackson recently spent $100,000 on two refurbished trucks from other communities − and the city spent $2.3 million of COVID money to commission a new ladder truck last year. It is expected to be delivered to Quincy in two years.

Walker said the long-term goal is to have ladder trucks at the West Quincy, Houghs Neck and North Quincy fire stations, as well as at headquarters on Quincy Avenue. The West Quincy fire station will need renovations to fit a ladder truck, and will get the new one when it's ready. Then the city will move its all-purpose Rescue 1 vehicle to the Wollaston fire station − the geographic center of the city.

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If approved by the city council during the budget process in the coming months, the additional staffing will allow every ladder truck to have four first responders on board, meeting the standards of The National Fire Protection Agency.

"The culture here in Quincy has been to run with a three minimum. We aren't breaking any laws by doing that, but it's not the national standard," Jackson said.

Tom Bowes, president of the firefighters' union, said adding a fourth ladder company to the city is "huge."

"As many of us on the job know, when you're working down the Neck or Germantown and you get a job, it can feel like an eternity while you're waiting for help," he said. "This ladder company means four additional firefighters available to help, which is huge."

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Reach Mary Whitfill at [email protected].

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