HADLEY — Changes are coming to Hadley Fire Department work schedules beginning Feb. 1. Fire Chief Michael Spanknebel told Select Board members at the Jan. 17 meeting that service hours for personnel will move to a 24-hour shift rotation.
“Starting Feb. 1 we’ll be going to 24-hour shifts, seven days a week, 365 days a year,” Spanknebel said.
The shifts will be staffed by four groups of firefighters, EMTs and paramedics who will work a 24-hour tour, followed by 24 hours off, back on duty for 24 hours and leading into a five-day off cycle.
Spanknebel told the board that 70% of the town’s service calls are received between 6 a.m. and 6 p.m. and Action EMS, which operates Hadley’s primary Advanced Life Support ambulance, parks their vehicle at the East Street headquarters but will relocate later in the day to the North station.
“We’re working with Action EMS because we have two sleeping quarters at our central station right now and we feel it’s critical that our firefighters are obviously at the central station,” he said.
Hadley’s Basic Life Support ambulance, Hadley A1 which is staffed by Fire Department personnel, went into operation in October 2023 beginning at a 12-hour day schedule.
Spanknebel said they have been testing run times for the Fire Department vehicles with positive results.
“If anything, I think it’s probably going to improve, it’s going to improve the service 100%,” he said, noting the increased coverage would also alleviate some need for command staff call out on lower-level service runs.
Board member Jane Nevinsmith applauded the move and praised Spanknebel’s leadership in his time with the department.
“You’ve come a long way from a volunteer service in a short time and you’ve done a great a job,” she said.
