LYNDON, Vt. (AP) — A Vermont town is helping fund a study to determine whether regionalizing emergency services could benefit it and neighboring communities.
The Lyndon Select Board voted Monday to contribute funds to hire a consultant to study the issue, the Caledonian Record reported. Lyndon will contribute a local match of up to $2,500 toward a $30,000 municipal planning grant to pay for the consultant. The grant from the Department of Housing and Community Development is being administered by Northeastern Vermont Development Association.
The pursuit of a coordinated, centralized, regional firefighting system in the Northeast Kingdom is being driven by St. Johnsbury, which has the only only full-time professional fire department in Caledonia County. Those crews respond to fires and other emergencies in St. Johnsbury, but also assist neighboring community volunteer departments as part of the regional mutual aid system.
St. Johnsbury officials have said the current set-up is getting harder to sustain financially, and other communities have said a growing shortage in volunteer responders is putting Northeast Kingdom residents at risk.
The study, which is expected to begin sometime early next year, will encompass all surrounding towns even if they don’t participate in the grant, St. Johnsbury Town Manager Chad Whitehead said Tuesday.
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