SACO — The Saco Fire Department has been called an “excellent organization” by an outside firm.

The city hired the Meredith, New Hampshire-based consulting firm Municipal Resources to do an organizational assessment of the Fire Department. 

Brian Duggan and George Klauber from Municipal Resources gave a brief overview of their 173-page report on the department at Monday’s city council meeting. 

Duggan said the company worked six months to research and compile the report. He said the goal of the work was to get “a snapshot” of the department, where things are today and a guide for a healthy future. 

“It’s really your choice whether a study like this becomes a useful guide — a strategic plan or a dust collector, and we’ve certainly seen both,” said Duggan. “However, we’ve seen many communities forge a path forward and implement about 80 percent of the recommendations we’ve come up with.”

Klauber said the consultants met with the fire chief and other staff, and compiled information on the Saco Fire Department. He said they compared the data to five other communities in New England most similar to Saco. 

“We saw the department as an example of excellence in many ways,” said Duggan. He commended the department for its mutual aid relationships in place, and said the department was one of the top five “hands down” the company had analyzed. 

“It’s an excellent organization, but it’s an excellent organization is based on the strength of its people,” said Duggan.

Duggan said he saw a great department that did not have to build services but needed a plan to maintain services as the city continues to grow. 

He said the department didn’t have the number of on call staff that it has had in the past, but that is a trend across the country as people are not as available as they were previously. Duggan said the chief has done an excellent job maintaining the on call department it has and needs to continue to do this to maintain current service levels. 

He also suggested the city in the future could look at an additional station for career staff in response to future growth in the city as a way to reduce response time. 

— Staff Writer Liz Gotthelf can be contacted at 282-1535, ext. 325 or [email protected].