Why Plainfield fire departments merged

Steve Taylor
Meriden
Why Plainfield fire departments merged

To the editor,

The Eagle Times published a good overview of fire department hassles in Weathersfield and environs [the editorial “All smoke: synopsis of a proposed merger and divergent dialogue,” June 26]. I thought you might be interested in how things have played out recently in Plainfield, a town of 2,500 and a large land area (50-plus square miles). For more than half a century we had two volunteer fire departments, Plainfield plain and Meriden village about seven miles apart. Each was a virtual private club with its own fundraising operation and recipient of only token support from the town. But when a worker-compensation claim for injuries suffered by a firefighter was denied because the carrier deemed him not a town employee but a member of a private club, the only solution was to merge the two fire brigades into a full-fledged town department. It took a couple of years to get all the legal details ironed out and for a couple of affirmative town meeting votes to finalize the deal, with the town buying out $135,000 of debt one department had on a truck. Now, a year later, the combined units are working together under a single selectmen-appointed chief (full disclosure, one of my sons has the title) and folks couldn’t be happier. Keep up your good work.

Steve Taylor

Meriden