Salem Lakes Fire/Rescue’s chief said Monday that a premise of a response time study by Paddock Lake used to support a decision to change fire and emergency medical services departments was inaccurate.
Paddock Lake in late April completed a change to Bristol Fire and Rescue for fire and EMS service starting Jan. 1, 2026. For over 60 years, Paddock Lake had contracted with Salem Lakes Fire/Rescue and its predecessors.
For 2026, Salem Lakes had proposed increasing the charge to Paddock Lake $393,680 to $786,957. The cost of the Bristol service for 2026 is $425,000, the first year of a 10-year contract with 3 percent increases each year.
In exploring the change, Paddock Lake developed a response time study that showed response times from Bristol were similar to those from SLF/R Station 1 in Trevor, but slower in some instances than response from Station 2. The study assumed that response to Paddock Lake came from Trevor for 12 hours a day and from the closer Station 2 in Salem for 12 hours a day.
At a Salem Lakes Village Board meeting Monday, Chief Al Carr said the Paddock Lake study’s premise that Station 2 was staffed only part of the day was wrong. Station 2 has had 24-hour, seven-day-a-week staffing since May 2024, he said.
“Claims that Station 2 operates on limited hours are outdated and wholly inaccurate,” Carr said.
Paddock Lake village President Alex Attiah said in an email to westofthei.com that he was unaware that Station 2 was manned around the clock, but it would not have changed his decision to contract with Bristol. He cited four reasons: Cost, Paddock Lake lacking confidence in Salem Lakes properly managing its fire/EMS services (while having faith in the fire/EMS service itself), the irresponsible growth of the Salem Lakes government including the fire department and that Salem Lakes has tried in “bad faith” to renegotiate the existing fire/EMS contract several times to raise cost to Paddock Lake property owners.
“Working with Bristol, our residents will be provided equal service without doubling the cost, services that are provided in a fiscally responsible manner, accurate and timely reporting to VOPL from Bristol, and more of a community presence in VOPL,” Attiah said.
In his remarks, Carr defended his department’s professionalism and service as delivered to anyone it is serves.
“We stand by our performance, our professionalism and our commitment to safety,” Carr said.
Paddock Lake’s decision appeared to be driven by cost, Carr said.
“Whether this change will result in quality of care remains to be seen,” Carr said.
Attiah questioned Salem Lakes approach of almost doubling the cost to Paddock Lake in one year rather than “incrementally increasing costs at a rate that is affordable.”
“VOSL almost doubled the cost in 1 year,” Attiah said. “What sensible organization/company would (do) that, risking losing significant revenue?”
Salem Lakes officials have said the increase was an attempt to correct past contracts that were based on equalized assessed valuation of the communities and resulted in Paddock Lake paying a lesser share than it used — 15 percent of costs instead of the 28 percent Paddock Lake actually consumed in service.
Carr said Salem Lakes received no counter offer or request for changes to the most recent proposal delivered to Paddock Lake officials in early April.
