By Michelle Kim

WEARE – The Fire Department proposed the addition of two full-time staff members to its volunteer force during the week days, along with more money for fire inspections in its requested operating budget for 2008.

Fire Chief Bob Richards said the request for two full-time staff members is slightly different than the request proposed last year, which called for two positions for seven days a week.

This request would be for eight hours a day during the weekdays. Weekends and holidays would be covered on a per-diem basis.

“We’re just putting it out there this time because we did it last year and we justified it last year,” said Richards.

The full-time positions would be trained as emergency medical personnel and in firefighting, explained Richards.

Richards told the Board of Selectmen on Nov. 26 that Weare is unable to cover about 50 percent of the calls that come in during the day.

With 63 square miles in Weare and with the additional wait time that comes with depending on mutual aid, sometimes people can end up waiting a long time for an ambulance, he said.

The department is looking for a 25 percent increase in fire inspections if the budget request goes through, according to Richards.

The $260,000 proposed operating budget for 2008 is about 50 percent more than the actual budget for 2007, which was funded at a default level and about 13 percent more than the requested budget for 2007.

Richards estimates the department has seen an increase in calls of about 3 percent a year.