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Crime & Safety

A Bail Bondsmen, Frightened Turkey and Two Dedicated Dispatchers

The Citizens Fire Academy visits the Avon Police Station and the Company One firehouse on Darling Drive.

The second session of the Avon Citizens’ Fire Academy got off to a fascinating start. 

Our group was waiting in the lobby of the Avon Police Station, ready to learn about the 911 call center, when, coincidentally, in walked an actual bail bondsman named Joey Pierro, from “Bailbonds – A Name You Can Trust.”  Though this was not part of the program, we peppered him with questions before the session and learned that his job was not quite as exciting as “Dog the Bounty Hunter” on A&E.  For future reference, a bail bondsman and bounty hunter have two different career paths.

Joey was jovial but definitely not someone you’d want to get upset.  He slipped behind a closed door then reappeared with a  client who was quite chipper, smiling and waving as the two men worked out the details of the $2,000 bail and then quietly left the building.

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The first host of the evening was dispatcher Jay McCaffrey, a 30-year veteran who has officially retired, but still works part-time as a dispatcher in the call center.  McCaffrey is also part of Company 3 of the Avon Volunteer Fire Department. He described the days when there were a only a few phone lines for emergencies as well as routine business, red call boxes were still in use, and messages came through on teletype machines with dinging bells.

Today, the equipment is very high-tech and dispatchers field 20,000 to 24,000 routine and emergency calls each year. 

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Computer screens now identify the location of each caller with a map pinpointing exactly where the call originated.  This is true for both cell phones (which now account for the majority of 911 calls) and land lines.  Pay-as-you-go phones cannot be tracked.  Since the advent of cellphones, McCaffrey said the center often gets several reports of the same incident.

He had us laughing at a few of the stranger calls.  Police were once called to Firehouse Pizza, now long gone but then located at Marshall’s Plaza, because someone threw a Miller Farms turkey inside the restaurant, shouting:  “This place is for the birds.”

We talked to dispatchers Erin Connole and Mary Shea who both enjoy the variety of their job and the fact that they can help people in a time of need.

When a call comes in, according to Erin, “you never know what to expect.  It keeps you on your toes.  It’s fun.”

The second portion of our class was back at Company 1 station on Darling Drive.  After a brief break (during which I tasted for the first time delicious Milano Melts), firefighter Matt Gugliotti, a former fire captain, provided a spirited overview of effective emergency response.

Upon arrival at a scene, a command center is immediately set up, with the senior-ranking officer taking charge.  Depending upon the nature of the incident, various “modules” are set up to best manage the incident. 

These include:  life safety, when someone needs to be saved from a burning building or car; ventilation, when a firefighter cuts holes in a wall or breaks windows to predict or control a fire; and contamination, which involves the presence of hazardous materials.

I learned that a room has six exposure walls that must be considered when preparing a line of attack– four sides, the ceiling and the floor.

Gugliotti said that at each call, it is important to weigh the “risk versus benefit” of life (both individuals involved in the incident and firefighters) and property.

At the end of the evening, Board Vice President Ken Sedlak explained the benefits of becoming a volunteer firefighter and Dennis Bianchi described how his role as fire prevention officer brings him to many schools and civic groups.  He joked that his selection of children’s books is much better than the collection in the Avon Public Library.

Sedlak shared the most interesting fact of the evening:  he estimated that if the town had a career fire department, it would cost the town about $9 million, based on the amount of members and equipment costs. Since the department is made up of volunteers, the budget is lower than it otherwise would be. The fire department budget currently amounts to about $650,000, which does not include $600,000 in hydrant fees.

Next week we travel to Company 2 station on Secret Lake Road.  The agenda includes attempting to put out a real fire with a fire extinguisher and using breathing apparatus that will make us sound like Darth Vader.

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