PARIS
— It took nearly 100 hours, but by midday Sunday, the fire at the NEPW
Logistics warehouse, on Pine Street, in Paris, was declared officially snuffed.
Now
comes the hard part.
Paris
Fire Chief Brad Frost says the four-day fire will prove costly to his
department. On Monday, he was still
trying to calculate the cost, although some aspects were beginning to come into
focus.
Although
only two people joined Frost on scene in the first 10 minutes — including a
driver and one firefighter not-yet certified to wear an air pack — all 29
people on the Paris fire roster eventually logged time at the Pine Street
scene.
Some
put in more than 60 hours. A handful,
including Frost and Deputy Chief John Longley put in 20-hour shifts before
taking a break.
Although
called volunteers, because they hold other full-time jobs, Paris firefighters
actually are paid for their time spent on emergency calls and regular training
hours. The rate of pay runs from $10 to
$12 an hour.
On
Monday, Frost said last week’s warehouse fire will cost about $12,000 from his
annual $70,000 budget for wages.
Darrell
Rugg, who has assisted Frost with some of the department paperwork, says Paris
will pay out more in wages for the four-day event than it usually spends in two
months.
And
the work doesn’t end there, Frost said.
Firefighters still have several days of cleanup ahead of them, not the
least of which is returning equipment belonging to other towns and getting back
items lost on scene — a hazard of running an operation involving 53 different
towns.
Frost
said he also depleted his diesel account, due to having to run his fire engines
almost nonstop throughout the event.
Between
wages, fuel and other costs not yet calculated, including food and beverage
costs, Frost said over the weekend that it is likely he will deplete his budget
before the end of the fiscal year, June 30.
If
it comes to that, he said, Paris may have to hold a special town meeting to
draw on its undesignated reserve accounts.
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