Thursday Night Massacre

For those who don't know it yet, on Thursday night, the Town Manager fired all members of the Gray Fire Rescue Dispatch and requested that Cumberland County immediately begin dispatching emergency calls for the Town of Gray. Friday in the Public Safety Complex on Seagull Drive, the doors were all locked, a emergency call box to Cumberland County was installed, and paramedics and firefighters all wondered why the cell phone text messages announcing emergency locations suddenly went dead. The strident Gray 40 disappeared from the scanners and was replaced by a monotone Fire Alarm.

On October 17th, the Council instructed the Town Manager to sign a contract and make the changeover to County dispatch before January 15, 2007. County began dispatching ten days later. What event precipitated such draconian action?

You have probably heard that all of the dispatchers threatened to quit.

Well that's just untrue.

One of the dispatchers had read the writing on the wall and had secured a job long before the vote on the 17th. That dispatcher gave notice for the first week of November, more than a two weeks notice. Three of the dispatchers were clearly distraught at the firing, they had no backup jobs and were not in a financial position to stage a mass walk-out. Do not know about the fifth, maybe there was a squeaky wheel there.

Even if there was an unprofessional troublemaker in the woodpile, the Fire Rescue Department has reserve dispatchers available to plug the gaps. Reservists hale from within the Department ranks, from neighboring departments (Raymond, Windham, etc) and yes, even from Cumberland County Dispatch. Chief Barton used these reserves many times. I guess nobody bothered to confer with the GFR Deputies on how to harness such resources. A lot of that going around.

The deed was done quickly, decisively and without any warning for the Department to prepare for the chaos that would naturally occur in the wake.

What is most interesting about the Thursday Night Massacre is that this whole drama occurred right after a certain prominent citizen conferred with the Town Manager on the correct legal procedures to initiate a citizen petition to reinstate Gray dispatch. You gotta admire the tactics: makes it a lot harder to reinstate something that has been destroyed- people fired, equipment sold off, facilities converted to other uses, and long-term contracts signed.

Hmmmm...must be just an incredible coincidence.