From 44 Men to a Modern Fire Service: The History of Staffing the Stamford Fire Department

For more than a century, the Stamford Fire Department has changed along with the city it protects. What began as a relatively small department, heavily dependent upon call firefighters, gradually became a professional career fire service responsible for a far larger geographic area and a far broader range of emergencies. Stations were built, companies were added, apparatus became more capable, and generations of firefighters took on responsibilities their predecessors could scarcely have anticipated.

The history of staffing, however, does not follow a simple upward line. At various points, Stamford added firefighters because it opened a station, shortened the firefighter workweek, increased staffing on individual companies, absorbed career firefighters from other fire districts, or created a new operational capability. At other times, new responsibilities were accommodated largely by redistributing the personnel already available. This makes historical comparisons difficult. Total department strength, authorized strength, assigned shift strength and minimum on-duty staffing are different measurements and should not be treated as interchangeable.

What the surviving records do show is a consistent theme. As Stamford grew, the Fire Department repeatedly reached points where its staffing and deployment model had to change. Fire chiefs were raising concerns about insufficient manpower generations ago. In 1950, with 90 personnel in the department, Chief Victor H. Veit wrote that SFD was “definitely understaffed” and warned that Stamford’s fire protection was “spread dangerously thin.”

Today, the city, the department and the demands placed upon its firefighters bear little resemblance to Stamford in 1950. Yet the underlying staffing question remains the same. How many firefighters need to be on duty at the same time to provide the level of protection Stamford requires?

From Call Firefighters to a Permanent Department

At the beginning of the twentieth century, Stamford’s fire protection system looked very different from today’s department. The 1901 annual report listed 44 men, but most were call firefighters rather than permanent personnel. The department answered only 33 calls during the year.

The transition toward a permanent professional force was already underway. By 1917, the department consisted of 42 members, 39 of whom were permanent and only three of whom remained call firefighters. The workload had also begun to increase, with 199 alarms recorded that year. By 1926, SFD was answering 377 alarms, and the 1932 annual report recorded 391.

As the department became more mechanized and specialized, apparatus itself created staffing demands. By the 1930s, Stamford was operating engine companies, ladder apparatus, an aerial ladder, chemical and foam equipment and various support vehicles. In 1937, when department strength had reached 67 members, the chief requested six additional firefighters specifically to properly staff an existing service truck.

That is an early example of an issue that would recur throughout SFD history. Owning apparatus and having the personnel necessary to operate it effectively are two different things.

The Postwar Department

By 1945, SFD had 79 personnel and responded to 572 calls. Those included 102 building fires, 56 false alarms and 414 other calls for assistance. The department was also responsible for considerably more than emergency response. Fire Prevention personnel made more than 25,000 visits to homes and businesses, while department employees maintained apparatus, hydrants and the municipal fire alarm system.

Five years later, department strength had reached 90, consisting of 17 staff members and 73 enlisted personnel. The department responded to 669 fire alarms, 124 special calls and 215 ambulance calls, for 1,008 responses. Despite having more than doubled in size since the beginning of the century, Chief Veit did not believe the department had kept pace with Stamford. He called for another deputy chief, another captain and additional fire stations, noting that a station in the northern portion of the city and another on the East Side had been needed for years.

The department continued expanding during the 1950s. By FY 1953-54, the roster included the chief, one deputy chief, nine captains, five lieutenants and 97 firefighters, along with fire alarm, mechanical and administrative personnel. Stamford was also upgrading apparatus. An 85-foot aerial ladder was purchased because the existing 65-foot ladder was considered inadequate for the taller buildings appearing in the city.

One of the most significant changes came later in the decade when the firefighter workweek was reduced from 56 hours to 42 hours. Department personnel increased substantially as a result. That increase must be interpreted carefully when examining historical staffing. Many of those additional employees were required to maintain coverage while individual firefighters worked fewer hours. An increase in total personnel did not necessarily represent an equivalent increase in the number of firefighters responding to an alarm.

That distinction remains important throughout the department’s history.

1963: An Independent Warning About Stamford’s Fire Protection

One of the most significant historical documents concerning Stamford’s fire protection is the February 1963 report prepared by the National Board of Fire Underwriters. Unlike the Fire Department’s annual reports, this was an independent outside evaluation of the city’s fire protection system. The National Board examined Stamford’s water supply, Fire Department, fire alarm system, fire prevention activities, building conditions and other factors affecting the city’s fire risk.

The report described the paid Stamford Fire Department as experienced and competent, but it identified serious weaknesses. Among the problems listed in the report’s summary were an inadequate number of engine and ladder companies, poor distribution of companies and inadequate company personnel. The National Board also found weaknesses in training coordination and other areas of the city’s fire protection system.

At the time, Stamford did not have a single unified fire department. The city was divided into six fire protection districts. The paid Stamford Fire Department protected the principal business district and surrounding areas, while five independent volunteer fire departments protected their respective districts elsewhere in Stamford.

The National Board recommended a fundamental restructuring of that arrangement. Recommendation No. 4 called for the six departments to be consolidated into one department operating under the supervision and control of the paid Fire Chief. The Board also recommended that sufficient additional personnel be provided so that each engine and ladder company would have “at least 5 men, including a company officer” on duty at all times.

That recommendation provides an extraordinary historical benchmark. More than six decades ago, an independent national fire protection organization concluded that Stamford should provide five-person staffing on its engine and ladder companies. Today’s Stamford engines and trucks operate with four-person crews.

The 1963 report was also remarkably forward-looking in another respect. The National Board was effectively recommending a unified citywide fire protection system decades before Stamford would finally begin moving toward such a structure. The debate over how to organize, staff and coordinate fire protection throughout the entire city would continue for more than half a century.

A Small Geographic District

The geographic issue is essential to understanding SFD staffing. The career Stamford Fire Department historically did not have the same geographic responsibility it has today. Records from the 1960s describe the paid department as operating four stations and covering approximately eight square miles in Stamford’s A and B sections. The remainder of the city was protected through the independent volunteer departments.

The department was already looking northward. Records from the period called for another station to improve protection in the northern portion of the district, while also recommending additional firefighters to bring engine and truck crews to recommended strength.

The North End station eventually became a reality. By 1977-78, SFD operated five career stations, including the new Washington Boulevard station. A department report from that period explicitly described the paid Stamford Fire Department as covering primarily the downtown area, generally the A and B tax districts, while Belltown, Glenbrook, Long Ridge, Springdale and Turn of River protected other portions of Stamford.

That historical geography becomes particularly important when modern staffing levels are compared with earlier years. Today’s SFD is responsible for a far larger portion of Stamford than the career department of the 1960s, 1970s or 1980s.

The Modern Staffing Record Begins to Take Shape

By the late 1970s, the available records allow a clearer comparison of actual on-duty staffing. The department operated five career stations in 1979 with 32 officers and firefighters assigned on duty per shift. From there, Stamford entered one of the more significant periods of staffing growth in its modern history.

The increase during the early 1980s was substantial. On-duty staffing climbed from 32 in 1979 to 38 by 1981. A mini-pumper was added, and Engine 4 and Engine 5 received additional personnel. An officer was added to Truck 1 in 1982, bringing staffing to 39, and another firefighter brought the number to 40 by 1986. In seven years, the number of officers and firefighters working each shift increased by 25 percent.

The Department I Joined in 1987

When I joined the Stamford Fire Department on March 31, 1987, the department was operating with approximately 40 officers and firefighters on duty. It is difficult today to describe just how different both Stamford and its Fire Department were.

The career department still primarily protected the traditional Stamford Fire District. The extensive geographic expansion that would eventually bring career SFD companies into Springdale, Glenbrook and Turn of River had not yet occurred. Much of Stamford outside the traditional district remained primarily the responsibility of the independent volunteer fire departments.

The physical city was different as well. Stamford certainly had major commercial buildings and high-rise structures by the late 1980s, but much of the residential development that would reshape the city in later decades had not yet occurred. The South End had not undergone its massive redevelopment, and many of today’s large residential complexes did not exist.

The emergency workload was also dramatically smaller. During FY 1984-85, SFD handled 2,977 calls. The department of that era therefore operated with approximately 40 people per shift and answered fewer than 3,000 incidents annually. That provides one of the most useful benchmarks for understanding what happened over the following four decades.

More Calls Without Comparable Staffing Growth

By 1990, on-duty staffing had reached 42. Two positions associated with ambulance staffing had been added as floaters. Three years later, the staffing number remained 42, but those positions were reassigned as third firefighters on Truck 2 and Truck 3.

The distinction is important. Staffing had not increased, but the way personnel were deployed had changed. The truck companies gained operational capability, while the department lost the flexibility provided by the floating positions.

Meanwhile, calls continued increasing. By FY 1995-96, SFD handled 5,941 incidents, almost exactly twice the 2,977 calls recorded in FY 1984-85. Yet on-duty staffing had moved from approximately 40 to only 42.

Springdale and Engine 7

On November 17, 1997, Engine 7 was established in Springdale and eight Springdale career firefighters were absorbed into SFD. The career system expanded from five stations to six, and minimum on-duty staffing increased from 42 to 44.

But the expansion was accomplished partly by redistribution. Engine 4 and Engine 5 each lost a firefighter.

That event is important because it marks the beginning of a much larger change in the geographic responsibility of the Stamford Fire Department. SFD was beginning to move beyond the district that had historically defined the career department. It also demonstrates why simply counting the number of employees added to the department can be misleading. Eight career firefighters were absorbed, a new career engine company was established and another station entered the career system, yet the number of firefighters working at one time increased by only two.

The Mission Expands

Around the turn of the century, the responsibilities carried by Stamford firefighters continued to increase. Department reports describe rescue work, vehicle extrication, rope rescue, hazardous-material operations, CPR training and extensive public education. Specialized dive training included zero-visibility and under-ice operations.

After September 11, 2001, the American fire service changed again. Stamford developed additional hazardous-material and decontamination capabilities, responded to suspicious powder incidents during the anthrax scare, assisted FDNY and continued organizing firefighters into specialized rescue and HazMat functions.

These capabilities did not create a separate workforce. They were largely layered onto the existing fire suppression force. The firefighter riding an engine or rescue company increasingly carried several responsibilities and certifications.

2006: More Staffing for the Trucks

By 2006, minimum on-duty staffing had reached 46. The increase was very specific. Truck 2 and Truck 3 each received another firefighter, bringing them to four-person staffing. The labor agreement confirms that minimum working staffing increased from 44 to 46 effective July 1, 2006, because of those two positions.

At the same time, workload continued moving upward. FY 2004-05 produced 7,244 calls. That was more than twice the volume SFD had handled two decades earlier.

2008: A Fundamental Change in Geography

The change that occurred on July 1, 2008, was much larger. Thirty-five career firefighters from Belltown, Glenbrook and Turn of River were absorbed into SFD. The career system expanded from six stations to nine. Engine 6 was relocated from Fire Headquarters to Glenbrook, while Engines 8 and 9 were established at Turn of River.

Minimum on-duty staffing increased from 46 to 52. Those numbers deserve careful consideration. Thirty-five career firefighters entered the larger organization, but the minimum number of personnel working each day increased by six. The department simultaneously expanded its career response system across a much greater portion of Stamford.

Engine 6’s relocation is particularly significant when viewed from the perspective of the traditional Stamford Fire District. A company that had operated from Headquarters was moved north to help provide the expanded geographic coverage. The career department became much larger geographically, but part of that expansion was accomplished using an existing downtown resource.

This was not simply a staffing increase. It was a restructuring of Stamford’s fire protection system.

The Workload Crosses 10,000 Calls

By FY 2011-12, SFD responded to 11,192 incidents. Those calls included 466 fires, 78 structure fires, 811 hazardous-material or hazardous-condition incidents, 5,739 Rescue/EMS first-responder calls and 1,820 false alarms.

EMS had become the largest portion of the department’s emergency workload. This change is easy to overlook when comparing modern fire department staffing with historical fire statistics. Today’s companies are not simply responding to more fires. They are responding continuously to medical emergencies, alarms, hazardous conditions, vehicle crashes and public-service incidents while remaining available for structural fires and other major emergencies.

The system has to handle all of those calls simultaneously.

2017: Four-Person Staffing on Engines 8 and 9

In 2017, minimum on-duty staffing increased from 52 to 54 when Engine 8 and Engine 9 received a fourth firefighter.

By this time, the department’s mission had become recognizably modern. SFD was the city’s EMT-level first responder for life-threatening medical emergencies. Firefighters were administering NARCAN for opioid overdoses and using mechanical CPR devices. Special operations included SCUBA rescue, heavy rescue, vehicle extrication, high-angle rescue, confined-space rescue and technician-level hazardous-material response.

The Fire Department was also operating marine resources and developing more sophisticated incident-command and personnel-accountability systems. The important point is that most of these capabilities were being provided by the same line personnel counted in the 54-person minimum.

A Modern Technical Rescue Force

By FY 2021-22, SFD reported 33 personnel assigned across the groups to Engine 5 and Rescue 1 at the Woodside firehouse. Eight personnel staffed those two units per shift and formed the core of the department’s technical rescue response. In addition to routine fire suppression and EMS responsibilities, those firefighters were trained in vehicle extrication, SCUBA and water rescue, rope rescue, confined-space rescue, trench rescue and structural-collapse rescue.

Engine 8 had also been developed as a rescue engine, increasing the number of on-duty technical-rescue personnel to 12. The department reported 113 Hazardous Materials Technicians in FY 2021-22, including 48 assigned to units forming the HazMat Task Force. SFD handled 815 hazardous-material responses that year.

Again, these are capabilities embedded in the regular line force. When one of those companies is committed to an EMS call or another routine incident, those specialized personnel are committed as well.

A Very Different Call Volume

The growth in emergency workload becomes much easier to see when the historical figures are placed together.

The comparison between FY 1984-85 and FY 2024-25 is particularly striking. Calls increased from 2,977 to 13,986, an increase of approximately 370 percent. Minimum on-duty staffing increased from approximately 40 to 56 during roughly the same period, an increase of 40 percent.

Put another way, the department handled about 4.7 times as many incidents in FY 2024-25 as it did four decades earlier, while having only 1.4 times as many personnel on duty. Those numbers alone do not establish what Stamford’s staffing should be. Call counts are only one measure of workload. They do, however, show that the growth in emergency activity has far exceeded the growth in personnel available to handle it.

The Modern Firefighter’s Workload

There is another reason the raw call comparison understates the change. A call in 2025 is not necessarily operationally equivalent to a call in 1985. Today’s line force supports a long list of responsibilities, including:

• Structural and high-rise firefighting
• EMS first response
• Hazardous-materials response
• Heavy and technical rescue
• Motor vehicle extrication
• Rope rescue
• Confined-space rescue
• Trench rescue
• Structural-collapse rescue
• SCUBA and water rescue
• Marine firefighting and search and rescue
• Highway emergencies
• Large-scale water supply in non-hydranted areas

The department has also substantially revised its high-rise firefighting procedures and conducted extensive hands-on training because modern high-rise operations differ significantly from practices used during earlier decades. This matters in a city where high-rise and large multifamily construction has become an increasingly important part of the built environment.

The North Stamford Challenge

The department’s geographic expansion also brought challenges that did not exist to the same degree in the old career district. North Stamford includes substantial areas without municipal fire hydrants. A structure fire there can require a tanker shuttle, dump sites, fill sites and additional personnel simply to establish and maintain an adequate fire flow.

The FY 2024-25 report describes large-scale water-supply training involving Stamford career and volunteer companies and mutual-aid tankers. During those exercises, approximately 1,100 to 1,200 gallons per minute was maintained through the combined operation. The department reports that its automatic mutual-aid tanker plan for non-hydranted areas is now regularly used.

That is another example of why geographic expansion cannot be measured simply in square miles. Different portions of the city create different staffing demands.

One Deputy Chief for an Entire City

As Stamford’s geographic responsibility expanded, command became another staffing issue. For years, a single on-duty Deputy Chief was responsible for the entire career response system. That meant one chief officer covering downtown Stamford, the shoreline, the Interstate 95 corridor, the Merritt Parkway area and North Stamford.

The department’s analysis supporting an additional command officer described a span of control involving 54 career personnel under one Deputy Chief. A significant incident could add dozens of volunteer firefighters. The analysis also identified areas where a Deputy Chief’s response could take 10 to 15 minutes.

The problem became even more apparent at major incidents. Modern incident command requires someone to manage strategy, resources, accountability and changing fire conditions. A Safety Officer is also needed to concentrate specifically on hazards affecting firefighters. The larger the incident becomes, the less practical it is for one person to perform all of those functions.

2024: A Second Command District

On July 1, 2024, Stamford addressed that issue by adding a second on-duty Deputy Chief and aide. The city was divided into Central and North command districts, with the dividing line generally around Bull’s Head. Minimum staffing increased from 54 to 56.

The change improved command coverage and provided another chief officer for major incidents. It also represented the first increase in minimum line staffing since Engine 8 and Engine 9 received their fourth firefighters in 2017.

But those two positions did not add firefighters to an engine, truck or rescue company. That distinction becomes important when evaluating today’s 56-person minimum.

What 56 People Actually Staff

Today’s minimum line staffing is 56 personnel per shift. Those firefighters and officers staff nine engine companies, three truck companies, one rescue company and two two-person Incident Command vehicles.

There is no large reserve hidden within that 56-person figure. Those 56 positions are the deployment. When the department operates at minimum staffing, every one of those personnel is required to keep the planned companies and command vehicles in service.

Nearly 14,000 Calls

During FY 2024-25, SFD responded to 13,986 incidents. The department recorded 354 fires, including 47 structure fires, along with 800 hazardous-condition calls, 6,959 Rescue/EMS first-responder calls and 2,670 false alarms.

The long-term progression puts that number in perspective.

Because reporting practices and incident classifications changed substantially over more than a century, the earliest numbers should not be treated as perfectly equivalent to modern CAD incident totals. They are most useful for illustrating the scale of the department’s transformation. The comparison within the modern era is much more meaningful.

1985 Versus Today

The department’s geographic responsibility also expanded enormously. This comparison is especially meaningful to those of us who worked in both eras. When I came on the job in 1987, the department I joined had roughly 40 people working each shift and five career stations. Today’s department staffs nine career engine companies, three trucks, a rescue and two command vehicles with 56 people.

During those years, the call volume did not increase by 40 percent. It increased by hundreds of percent. The geographic territory, building environment and operational mission expanded along with it.

Apparatus Is Not Staffing

One lesson appears repeatedly throughout SFD’s history. A fire engine in a station does not constitute fire protection by itself. Neither does a ladder truck, rescue truck, tanker or fireboat. People create the capability.

The department understood that in 1937 when it sought six firefighters to staff a service truck. Chief Veit understood it in 1950 when he warned that the city’s fire protection was spread too thin. The National Board of Fire Underwriters understood it in 1963 when it criticized company staffing and recommended at least five people on each engine and ladder company.

The same principle applies today. Adding equipment can provide firefighters with better tools. It cannot create the personnel required to stretch another hose line, conduct another search, raise another ladder, operate another rescue team or relieve crews that have been working inside a building.

Why Company Staffing Matters

Fireground work occurs through companies and teams. The number of people arriving on an engine, truck or rescue directly affects how quickly required tasks can begin.

Four firefighters on an engine do not represent four interchangeable individuals. One is committed to operating the apparatus while the officer manages the company. That immediately affects how many firefighters remain available to stretch a line, force entry or perform other tasks. The same applies to truck and rescue companies.

At a major structure fire, the Incident Commander needs enough companies to simultaneously perform fire attack, search, ventilation, forcible entry, water supply, rapid intervention and other assignments. In a large apartment building or high-rise, the personnel requirements increase further because firefighters and equipment must be moved vertically and operations may extend over a much larger area.

The number of companies dispatched is therefore only part of the equation. The number of firefighters arriving on those companies matters just as much.

The Next Step: 58

The current staffing proposal would increase minimum on-duty staffing from 56 to 58 by adding two firefighters to Rescue 1. Across four shifts, that requires eight additional line positions.

Numerically, it is a modest change. Moving from 56 to 58 represents a 3.6 percent increase in minimum daily staffing. But the operational effect could be considerably larger because the positions would be concentrated on one of the department’s most specialized companies. Rescue 1 personnel are part of the department’s technical-rescue capability while also responding to ordinary fire and EMS incidents.

The proposal therefore is not simply to add eight names to the department roster. It is to put two additional trained firefighters on duty every day. That is the measurement that matters.

The Historical Perspective

The surviving records show that Stamford has confronted staffing questions throughout the history of its Fire Department. The specific problems changed. In the early twentieth century, the issue was converting from call firefighters to permanent personnel. Later, it was staffing newly acquired apparatus. After World War II, chiefs sought additional stations and warned that existing protection was spread too thin. Workweek reductions required larger total rosters. New stations required additional companies. Geographic expansion changed where personnel were deployed. EMS became a major part of the workload. Hazardous materials and technical rescue created new training and response requirements. The expansion of the career system pushed SFD into areas it had not historically protected as its primary district. Eventually, the city became too large for one on-duty Deputy Chief to reasonably provide command coverage everywhere.

At each stage, Stamford adjusted. Usually, those adjustments were incremental. A firefighter was added here. Two positions were added there. A company received a fourth member. A new engine was established. Existing personnel were redistributed. Another command officer was eventually added.

Seen individually, many of those changes appear small. Seen across decades, they tell the story of how the Stamford Fire Department became the organization it is today.

The Question History Leaves Us

Historical statistics cannot tell us by themselves exactly how many firefighters Stamford should have on duty today. That requires current operational analysis. Call volume is important, but it is only the beginning. The next questions involve how frequently incidents overlap, how many companies are simultaneously committed, how often another serious incident occurs while companies are already unavailable, how long units remain committed, how frequently major incidents require substantial portions of the citywide force, and whether enough personnel arrive quickly enough to perform all required fireground tasks.

Those are questions that modern CAD data can answer. But history tells us why they need to be asked.

In FY 1984-85, SFD handled 2,977 calls with approximately 40 officers and firefighters working each shift. Four decades later, it handled 13,986 calls with a minimum of 56. The department expanded from five career stations to nine. Its career geographic responsibility moved far beyond the district it protected when many current and recently retired members joined the department. Its firefighters became EMS first responders, HazMat technicians, divers, technical rescuers and marine responders. Its high-rise responsibilities increased. Its North Stamford operations brought substantial non-hydranted territory into the career response system.

Yet minimum staffing grew from approximately 40 to 56.

The 2024 addition of a second Deputy Chief and aide was significant and necessary, but it did not increase the staffing of a single engine, truck or rescue company. That leaves Stamford with 56 people required each day to staff 15 frontline units: nine engines, three trucks, one rescue and two command vehicles.

The proposed next step is eight additional positions, two per shift, increasing daily minimum staffing from 56 to 58. That is not an unprecedented expansion when viewed against the history of the department. It is a 3.6 percent increase in the number of personnel available each day.

The larger question is whether the staffing of the Stamford Fire Department has kept pace with the Stamford Fire Department’s actual job.

More than a century of annual reports suggests that this is exactly the question Stamford has had to answer repeatedly. The city grows. The department’s responsibilities grow. Calls increase. New hazards emerge. Eventually, the number of people available to do the work has to be reconsidered.

The next phase of this study should move from history to measurement. The department’s CAD records can show what nearly 14,000 annual incidents actually mean to the 56 people staffing Stamford’s fire companies each day. That analysis may provide the most important chapter of the staffing story yet.