NORWICH – If proposed cuts to Norwich’s fire department go through, emergency service coordinators warn of the ripple effect it will have on EMS services, not just in the city, but throughout the county.

On Tuesday, the Norwich Common Council heard concerns from many residents and members of the Norwich Fire Department regarding the possible elimination of full-time and part-time positions within the department by the end of the year. The idea comes as a way for the Council to trim the 2016 annual budget and avoid a double-digest tax hike for city residents.

Norwich City Human Resources Director Deborah DeForest explained the city suggests cutting five part-time and four full-time positions, with two of those full-time positions being reinstated by fall of 2016. However, two firefighters are up for retirement in 2016 and the city does not plan to refill those positions, she said, meaning there will still be four less full-time positions in the department by this time next year.

The proposed reduction of nearly $240,000 to the fire department’s personnel budget would mean less people on staff, and that means less availability to answer calls. And since Norwich contracts EMS services to such a vast part of the county, it creates a hole for EMS that will have to be somehow filled, explained Chenango County Director of Emergency Management Matthew Beckwith.

Beckwith addressed the issue to the County Safety and Rules Committee on Wednesday.

“I have a big concern because the City of Norwich Fire Department responds to South Otselic, Smyrna, Sherburne, Oxford, North Norwich, Guildford, McDonough, Pharsalia, Plymouth and New Berlin. They are one of the biggest EMS agencies in this area,” said Beckwith. “If everything goes the way the (Norwich) Common Council is looking at, it’s going to leave us – all of our municipalities in the county of Chenango – in a huge EMS vacuum. There will not be ambulances going to some of those communities; or if there are, they will be extremely delayed.”

Beckwith added that while other communities in the county, including New Berlin, Afton, Oxford and Otselic have ambulance services, most rely on volunteers and lack the volunteer base to be reliable, especially during daytime hours. The impact would be felt especially hard in the western portion of the county, where there are only two ambulances: one in South Otselic and the other in Greene.