For WHFD, a Retirement Procession?

Succession planning used to be for royalty, not public safety officials.

But as towns grapple with , less state money and ticked-off taxpayers, more than layoffs could undermine public safety, its chain of command and the rank-and-file.

Nearly half of the fire department will be eligible to retire and collect pensions and benefits before the current union contract expires June 30, 2012, said Gary Allyn, assistant chief of the .

“About half of the department theoretically could walk out the door and move on to other phases of their lives,” Allyn said this week.

That’s not what Allyn had in mind in 2002, he said, when he developed a succession program for public safety personnel as part of a project for the U.S. Fire Administration (USFA), a branch of Homeland Security.

“Back in 2002, people didn’t even know what [a succession program] meant when it came to the public safety business,” Allyn said. “But as we look out there now, with all the benefit changes and the economic changes … it has suddenly made my topic look interesting after nine years.”

Allyn estimated that 47 percent of the 94 unionized department members will have the minimum 20 years of service necessary to retire with full benefits under the current contract. The deal was extended three years by the  in 2009, with cost-of-living increases, in the midst of the recession.

Under Chief William Austin and Assistant Chiefs Allyn and Michael Sinsigalli, the department includes 62 firefighters, 19 lieutenants, six captains and four battalion chiefs. Three new recruits start June 13, Allyn said.

A speculative stampede for the doors would figure to come up when contract talks begin next year.

“When I wrote that paper back in 2002 I never thought we would ever be faced with such a large exodus but it’s something we’re preparing for in the next year,” Allyn said.

In 2002, Allyn completed the Executive Fire Officer Program at the USFA in Emmitsburg, Md. His six-month research project in succession planning came shortly after 343 first responders perished in the World Trade Center attacks. Part of the idea was to address unanticipated gaps in leadership, Allyn said.

This week Allyn was in Alabama for emergency management training at the Center for Domestic Preparedness at Fort McClellan. He said first responders are particularly mindful after the death of Osama Bin Laden.

“It’s brought a heightened sense of what’s going to happen next,” Allyn said. “We’re all preparing for retaliation for [Bin Laden’s death]. This year will be the 10th anniversary. Regionally and nationally we’re all anticipating some sort of event.”

West Hartford firefighters at the Albany Avenue fire station after Bin Laden’s death was announced May 1 – the same day Allyn left a three-day Executive Fire Officer Symposium at the National Emergency Training Center in Emmitsburg.

“It was certainly some closure but it’s not going to bring those folks back,” Allyn said.

More than 160 senior fire officials from across the U.S. and Canada attended the symposium.

Shrinking town budgets were not officially on the agenda.

“We’re facing quite a challenge for next year,” said Allyn, who is in his 23rd year with the fire department and manages operations and planning. “We’re cautiously moving forward.”

Allyn, who was promoted to assistant chief in November 1997, said his own retirement is a consideration. He turned 55 on Tuesday.

“We’re no different than any other [public] agency in Connecticut,” Allyn said. “Hartford is in the same boat and East Hartford is the same way. It’s something we’re preparing for and being sensitive to and trying to prepare for internally.”