RUMFORD – Deputy fire Chief Richard Coulombe isn’t sure if action taken by selectmen last week will prompt a reopening of the Fire Department union’s contract or send the decision to arbitration.

Coulombe, president of Local 1601, said Tuesday afternoon that he must first wait for official written notification from the board on its decision to virtually eliminate overtime, then talk with the union’s lawyer.

“Once we get that notice, we’ll go from there,” he said. One issue to be addressed is if a safety issue could result from having just three professional firefighters on duty.

In a cost-cutting measure last week, selectmen decided that no one will be called into replace sick or vacationing firefighters, a move that will leave the usual four-man team one man short much of the time.

Fire Chief John Woulfe said Tuesday that vacationing or ill firefighters use about 47 weeks annually. Until now, an off-duty firefighter would be called in to cover, or a utility firefighter would be used.

Selectmen also decided to not fill an open utility position, leaving the force at 12 full-time firefighters and the chief, with an annual budget of about $900,000. About $100,000 of that total has been going for overtime pay.

Rumford firefighters earn an average of $5,800 in overtime pay, although Woulfe said some firefighters earn more, others less. Eliminating call-ins would reduce the budget by nearly $70,000.

In a move to negate the necessity of one of the firefighters remaining in the station to man the call box system, selectmen also decided to have the nearly 100 call boxes answered by the Oxford County Regional Communications Center.

That change, said Woulfe, will cost about $15,000 and won’t be in place for a few weeks. Staffing at the fire station will remain unchanged until then.

Woulfe and Town Manager Jim Doar worked out the plan to present to selectmen last week after being asked to find ways to reduce overtime.

Woulfe said having the fourth person always able to respond to calls would improve the town’s insurance rating. He’s not sure if insurance rates will go up when three people are on duty instead of four.

The change, said Woulfe, will keep the level of service where it was 30 years ago.

“It’ll keep things stagnant with three people on,” he said.

He had hoped to maintain a staffing of four so that two professional firefighters would be able to go inside a burning building while two remained outside, particularly because the numbers of qualified call force firefighters are dwindling.

Right now, the town’s call force stands at 13, but only six are allowed to go inside a burning building.

Pay for call force members ranges from $7 to $11 an hour. For full-time firefighters, the base pay ranges from $32,800 to $37,600.

Woulfe said a greater emphasis must be made on call force training.

“We need to step above and beyond 30 years ago. It will be a burden on the call force,” he said.

In 1989, selectmen took a similar action by eliminating call-ins to cover sick time and vacation. That decision was eventually overturned through arbitration, said Woulfe.

Whether that would happen again isn’t certain, said Coulombe.

Deputy Chief Ben Byam, a 19-year veteran, said the department has been trying to move forward, but he believes selectmen are moving the town backward.

Firefighter Rob Dixon believes it is more important than ever to have a four-man team because of dwindling call force numbers. And firefighter Ed Carey said a recent fire required a 17-minute wait for a fourth person to arrive with the proper training so the two-in and two-out standard could be met before the fire could be tackled.

“We have a 100 years of training here. They don’t understand our job, they don’t know what we do,” said Dixon.

Selectmen cited smaller fire department budgets in other towns of similar size in their efforts to reduce costs and property taxes for residents.