CANANDAIGUA, N.Y. – A nearly year-long study released today highlighted a firefighter shortage in the City of Canandaigua, recommending the fire department double its active workforce. The study, done by Center for Public Safety, LLC, followed a December fire that left a 98-year-old man dead, prompting a focus on the city’s emergency preparedness.
The study, presented to the City of Canandaigua Planning Committee, suggested seeking partnerships with nearby departments to potentially create a larger regional department. It also recommended upgrading fire equipment and hiring 10 more firefighters, including two lieutenants, over the next 10 years. This would increase the number of firefighters working at any time to nine.
“We were pretty pleased with it. Very positive. It’s nice that it kind of echoed what we’ve been saying for the last year,” said Dan Conklin, a firefighter with the Canandaigua Fire Department and vice president of their union, IAFF Local 2098.
Currently, the department staffs a minimum of four firefighters on duty, split between two stations covering about 20,000 people across 36 square miles.
But no decision is set to be made anytime soon.
“We need a lot more data, actually. You know, what we had wanted to understand currently our fire department is responding to a lot of EMS calls. We have local EMS as well,” said City Councilmember Michael Mills.
“So what should they be responding to? How do we rightsize? What are the equipment we need? What are the contracts we need to structure with our local partners? Because we can’t do this. It’s got to be a regional approach, a whole of government approach. And so we’re going to really need to dig into this data. And as you heard, I think tonight have the people that put it together go back and do some additional data analysis and reporting for us.”
The City Board plans to make a decision by the time they vote on the 2026 budget.
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