Board Backs Fire Staffing Override Request
The Nahant Select Board heard a dire warning that the fire department's century-old staffing model is failing. Fire Chief Austin Antrim asked the board to back a $1 million override funding four new firefighters, saying "we're driving them into the ground" under the current two-on-duty system.
Select Board · Meeting of March 18, 2026
NAHANT — The Nahant Select Board heard a dire warning that the fire department's century-old staffing model is failing. Fire Chief Austin Antrim asked the board to back a $1 million override funding four new firefighters, saying "we're driving them into the ground" under the current two-on-duty system. He cited NFPA 1710 staffing standards and the 1925 Bass Point conflagration as evidence of Nahant's outsized fire risk.
The board also approved ballot language renaming "Board of Selectmen" to "Select Board," signed a contract for new Finance Director Edmund Locke through June 30, 2029, appointed Robert Fields veterans service officer and Peter Zink to the Conservation Commission, and reopened the town meeting warrant to add Community Preservation Committee grants and shift the town election to after town meeting.
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Source: the Select Board meeting of March 18, 2026, reported from the official video recording and transcript.
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