By Ken Valenti

WESTPORT–Two Representative Town Meeting (RTM) committees supported a Westport Fire Department request for $495,615 to replace five firefighters who left unexpectedly over the past year, with less than a year on the job.

Fire Chief Nicholas Marsan and Deputy Chief Matthew Cohen told the RTM members that the department struggles to retain firefighters, who often leave for neighboring departments, partly for better retirement packages.

“We vetted them, we trained them, we equipped them, we continued to train them, and then we watched them leave,” Marsan said in a Zoom meeting of several RTM committees discussing several sections of the 2026-2027 town budget.

Of six firefighters hired over the past year, only one remained, he said. Filling an unexpected vacancy is a significant expense, Marsan told the RTM members. The department must pay overtime wages for firefighters who fill in, while also paying the new recruit’s salary and providing training and custom-fitted equipment.

The department that hires a firefighter away from Westport benefits from the training that Westport funds.

Marsan said the department does all it can to keep the recruits battling blazes in Westport.

“We do everything we can to make sure that they are working for a top-notch organization,” he said. “We have a very high level of training. We have leadership training. We have coaching. We have mentoring….We provide annual physicals. We focus on peer support and mental health.”

RTM members suggested ways to recoup the costs, by requiring the departing firefighters – or the departments that hire them away from Westport – to cover the costs. Marsan and Cohen told them those ideas had been explored and are unenforceable. Cohen said it has become more difficult to find people who want to become firefighters.

The finance committee approved the department’s request 7-0, and the public protection committee backed it 10-0. Their support sends the request to the full RTM for its vote. But finance committee member Nancy Kain said discussions about the issue should continue.

“We have a stellar fire department and the best training,” she said, calling firefighter flight a “problem that we need to solve…that isn’t going to be solved during this conversation, but needs to be addressed.”

The discussion was the final section of a four-hour Zoom meeting to discuss sections of the budget covering information technology, public works, train station parking and police and fire services. The RTM’S finance, information technology, public works, public protection and transit committees took part, with each budget section approved by two or three committees, recommending them for approval by the entire RTM.

Ken Valenti

^{_{A career journalist and lifelong resident of the New York City region, Ken Valenti has enjoyed decades of reporting local, regional and national news in New York and Connecticut. Topics of special interest are development, the environment, Long Island Sound and transportation. When not reporting, he’s always on the lookout for the perfect coffee shop or used book sale.}}