Fire Officials Detail FY27 Budget Requests, Fleet Repairs to Panel

Other Committee · Meeting of February 3, 2026

Greenwich Fire Department reports full staffing but a fleet in crisis. Fire Chief Charlie McHugh told the town's Budget Committee the department has zero vacancies for the first time in years, yet more than 160 fleet work orders remain open and over half its apparatus is sidelined for repairs, forcing reliance on a loaned Stamford engine. Overtime is budgeted to rise from $3 million to $3.1 million despite fewer injuries, which McHugh attributed to a staffing restructuring: "There's no floaters anymore, so the number has to stay there." The capital plan includes a $1 million town-owned tanker, $450,000 toward a Banksville Fire Department tanker, and matching funds for a $300,000 Sound Beach rescue vehicle.

Plan review revenue is already $200,000 over budget. No written agreements govern the town's funding of equipment owned by neighboring volunteer fire companies, officials confirmed.

In the full story:

• The complete report — 971 words

Source: the Other Committee meeting of February 3, 2026, reported from the official video recording and transcript.

The Full Article

GREENWICH — February 3, 2026 — Fire Chief Charlie McHugh told the town's Budget Committee Tuesday that the Greenwich Fire Department is fully staffed with zero vacancies for the first time in years, even as he warned that more than half the department's apparatus fleet is currently out of service for long-term repairs.

McHugh presented a fiscal 2027 operating budget request that comes in 3.38 percent above the committee's guideline, along with a capital request that includes a $1 million replacement tanker for volunteer use and a $25,000 line for firefighter injury-prevention services. No formal votes were taken; the session was a department budget hearing and question-and-answer period.

The Full Story

McHugh, joined by Assistant Chief Luba Wiki, Assistant Chief Tom Lenhard, and Fire Marshal Dawson, walked the committee through the department's operating and capital requests line by line. He said emergency call volume has climbed 5 to 10 percent annually across nearly every category over the past two years, with car accident responses up 166 between fiscal 2023 and fiscal 2025. "No real driver that we can find with our data," McHugh said, adding that the increase spans the board rather than tracking to any single cause.

A new $25,000 line would fund a contract with First Response Health and Wellness, an ergonomics and injury-prevention firm run by Sarah Becker that has worked with departments across Fairfield County, including Norwalk. McHugh said the department lost roughly 6,000 hours to injury in fiscal 2024 and 8,200 hours in fiscal 2025, despite having fewer total injuries that year, because the injuries were more severe. The department has lost only 1,100 hours to injury so far in fiscal 2026.

Overtime for career firefighters is budgeted to rise from $3 million to $3.1 million, which McHugh attributed to contract raises built in at 3 percent while negotiations continue. Committee member Doug pressed McHugh on why overtime remains elevated even though the department is fully staffed and injuries are down. McHugh said a staffing restructuring approved last year, which moved from 24 firefighters per shift with two "floaters" to a fixed 23-person requirement, means overtime now has to cover every vacancy directly.

"Because there's no floaters anymore. So the number has to stay there," McHugh said.

Fire Marshal's office overtime is also running over budget again, which McHugh linked to retirements in that office and a surge in large construction projects requiring repeat inspections; he said permit-driven inspections are on pace to double from last year. Plan review revenue is already $200,000 above last year's full-year budget, but McHugh said he is holding the revenue line flat at roughly $700,000 because he cannot predict the pace of major private construction projects.

On the capital side, the department is requesting $25,000 every other year over a ten-year plan to replace aging 5-inch supply hose, and is in year two of replacing self-contained breathing apparatus that are roughly 15 years old and costing $20,000 to $25,000 annually in maintenance. The largest capital item is a $1 million town-owned tanker to replace a 25-year-old Round Hill Fire Company tanker currently out of service; the town would own the new vehicle outright rather than co-owning it. The department is also seeking $450,000 toward a new tanker for the Banksville Fire Department, up from a lower contribution in past years, and matching funds toward a roughly $300,000 technical rescue vehicle for the Sound Beach Volunteer Fire Company, which has already secured a $150,000 donation from the Sound Beach Foundation.

Committee member Harry questioned why the town funds vehicles it does not own outright when it comes to Banksville and Round Hill. Officials said mutual-aid arrangements with both companies date back decades but are not formally codified in writing, a gap McHugh said a town attorney identified as Kate Bush is reviewing.

McHugh also flagged that more than 160 fleet work orders are currently open and that over half the department's apparatus is out of service for long-term repairs, forcing the department to run a loaner engine borrowed from Stamford.

"There's still over 160 open work orders right now that need to be fixed either in-house or at a third party. It's definitely something that's troubling for us from a logistics standpoint and very hard to manage overall," McHugh said.

Assistant Chief Lenhard, who oversees the volunteer program, told the committee the department fully onboarded 12 new volunteer firefighters in 2025 and expects a promotional recruitment video, funded by a $10,000 private donation and produced with New York University's film school, to be released this month. He said career recruitment has also declined sharply: the department's last entrance exam drew 149 applicants, compared with 600 to 700 roughly 25 years ago.

"It's the retention part. You bring him in the door, it's great, but now we're talking about 175 hours of training. It becomes a lot," Lenhard said of the volunteer training commitment.

Why It Matters

The budget requests reflect a department managing rising call volume and an aging vehicle fleet while trying to stabilize staffing after years of shortages. The $1 million tanker and the mutual-aid funding questions for Banksville and Round Hill affect emergency water supply coverage in Greenwich's back country. The absence of written agreements governing town funding of equipment owned by neighboring volunteer companies drew direct committee scrutiny and is now under legal review.

Residents should also expect continued reliance on a borrowed Stamford engine and third-party repair vendors while the town works through a backlog of more than 160 fleet work orders. The committee continues budget hearings Thursday with the Board of Education, followed by the Department of Public Works on February 17.

Key Motions & Votes

No formal votes taken at this meeting.

Source

Greenwich Community Television: Budget Committee meeting, February 3, 2026