The Watertown Fire Department has requested adding enough paramedics to run a second ambulance. Currently, the Fiscal Year 2026 budget does not include the money for the eight paramedics, but the request will be discussed by a City Council committee.
On Tuesday, April 29, the City Council’s Committee on Budget & Fiscal Oversight will continue its discussion of the proposal to add eight paramedics. The meeting will begin at 6 p.m. in the Third Floor Conference Room in City Hall and will also have remote participation. See the agenda and links here.
Members of the Fire Department said that the response time is significantly longer when a private ambulance — which usually comes from Cambridge — compared to one run by the WFD.
Patrick McManus, who has been a firefighter/paramedic in Watertown for 6 years, said that not having a second ambulance is impacting the speed that patients can get medical care at moments when every minute counts.
“Two Christmases ago, our ambulance was on another call when a two year old cardiac arrest came in,” McManus said at the meeting where the City Manager presented the FY26 budget to the Council. “With our ambulance being not available and a delayed ETA from a private ambulance, the patient’s survival (chances) greatly decreased, and ultimately the patient died. Having a second ambulance would have given this patient a fighting chance, rather than delayed resources to the scene.”
Capt. Paul LaFauci, who is president of the Watertown firefighters union, said that not having extra is increasing the workload on members of the Fire Department, and the department has requested the additional staffing in prior years.
“We need to take care of the citizens here in the town and the people that work in the Fire Department — let them go home to their families, not be held over and stay days at a time,” LaFauci said at the April 8 Council meeting. “This has been kicked down the road too long.”
During the FY26 Budget Hearing, City Manager George Proakis the City is not adding any new positions to any department, and that the public safety departments (police and fire) have been funded at the highest level ever, at $27.6 million.
“The budget doesn’t fund additional public safety positions,” Proakis said. “It warrants continued review of those requests — most of the additional budget requests for new positions that we weren’t able to fund.”
Along with the eight firefighters, other staff requests in municipal departments include a full-time employee for Watertown Emergency Management, a community liaison at the Department of Public Works, a heavy equipment operator, two equipment operators, an Assistant Senior Center Director, administrative assistant for the Veterans Services Department, a full-time children’s librarian, and a technical services assistant at the Library.
The cost of the second ambulance would be $855,867, Proakis said, some of which would be recovered by the insurance payments for medical transportation. With those payments, the cost to the City would be between $400,000 and $500,000.
“It is one of the more significant cost additional budget requests,” Proakis said, adding later. “It is an annual cost because you are hiring staff and maintaining that staff over time. So we want to make sure that as we do this, that this fits into the annual budget going forward.”
At a later date, Proakis said he recommends that the Council discuss the Police Department’s request for new patrol officers.
“We are actually reaching the point where the Police Department would be fully staffed,” he said. “And as that happens, we are seeing increases in calls, particularly in certain areas on the East End, and how they do call response deserves some review.”
Proakis added that the Police Department has been able to fill most of its open positions after removing the department from Civil Service and increased recruiting efforts to attract experienced officers from other departments. There has been a struggle to fill openings on the Fire Department.
“Hiring and holding the paramedic positions is the greatest challenge on the Fire Department side, and we’re continuing to work on that,” he said.
It’s a simple fact that this is a must. There is nothing worse than having a serious medical call, and having to wait for up to 20 minutes for our back up plan to arrive. It is a serious issue, with serious consequences. Get this done!
I consider a second ambulance for Watertown a need not a want.
Sometimes when we have had to call 911 for an ambulance, we get one from a neighboring town city.. It definitely takes longer and sometimes every second counts.
My motto is always safety first!
Safety is not an area where we should be trying to save money.
Pat Davis
What I don’t understand, Independent ambulance services fill the void when a call arises and they seem to be able to do it without losing money. How is it that the city would lose “$400,000 and $500,000” ? There is too much missing information for such a big expense.
FYI: Independent ambulances may “fill the void” but only meet the standard response time 44% of the time whereas WFD responds under the 9 minute window 96% of the time (the National Fire Protection Association standards require emergency medical services to respond within 9 minutes 90 percent of the time). There’s a big difference between an Ambulance dispatched from a Watertown Fire Station vs a private ambulance dispatched from Cambridge. That extra ten or more minutes could be the difference between “seeing my friends” or “viewing my friends”. I can’t think of a higher budget priority for the citizens of Watertown.
I’m sure you are aware that the City has a second ambulance but not sufficient staff to put it into service. As the city grows and the roads narrow to complete the new Mount Auburn St project the time to get an ambulance to most of Watertown from Cambridge will increase. It’s just not the same emergency service that will save lives. Not sure how anyone can put a price on getting to the hospital on time.
I have to agree. Response time is everything when there is a heath emergency. It’s worth the money and should be prioritized. The well being of our neighbors is a first concern.
Thanks for the comment David. I believe the $400K to $500K cost would be for the all included cost of hiring the firefighters and running the ambulance.