Canandaigua City Council OKs study of emergency services

From Democrat & Chronicle

By Mike Murphy

3:01 p.m. ET on Jan 10, 2025

CANANDAIGUA, NY — The year 2024 closed out with a heated battle over staffing in the Canandaigua Fire Department.

The year 2025 opens with approval of a study of emergency services in the city of Canandaigua that could lead to determining the proper staffing level and how to get to that point, if necessary, as well as potential recommendations in how to better fire, police and ambulance services provided.

Here’s what is known now.

Canandaigua OKs $90K contract

Canandaigua City Council on Jan. 6 gave the go-ahead for a $90,450 study of dispatch, fire, police and emergency medical services in the city.

The study will be done this year by the Center for Public Safety Management, which conducted a study of Canandaigua fire service in 2018 that led to the department’s current staffing level of 18 firefighters.

Reaching the recommended level of firefighters was accomplished, although it took several years to do so.

What to expect

This study will take 150 to 180 days to complete, according to Joe Pozzo, senior manager for fire and EMS at CPSM.

Collecting data as well as virtual and in-person interviews with city department officials, primary emergency medical service providers in Canandaigua and automatic and mutual aid fire partners outside the city will inform recommendations, Pozzo told council members on Jan. 6.

“We’ll take a regional, broad-spectrum look at how services are provided,” Pozzo said.

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