(August 26, 2006) — GATES — The Gates Fire Department for the first time will start staffing career firefighters around the clock at its headquarters.

Starting Sept. 2, at least two career firefighters will work a new 6 p.m. to 6 a.m. shift every day, following the footsteps of other departments such as Henrietta and Brighton.

Gates was the only Monroe County fire department with career and volunteer firefighters combined that didn't have the overnight service.

The group of firefighters will rotate working four days at headquarters on Chili Avenue, followed by four days off, said Jim Harrington, Gates fire chief.

"A fire can take off after burning for two to three minutes, so with this shift, we can hopefully get to the scene and get the trucks out there quickly," Harrington said, adding:

"Yes we've done a decent job, so far, but this will give residents a higher level of service that they haven't been receiving."

Three Gates residents died in house fires last year, something officials don't want to see again.

In the past year, Gates hired four career firefighters bringing the total to 20. The new hires are being paid with help of a five-year $400,000 grant from the Department of Homeland Security. The grant pays 90 percent of the new firefighter salaries this year.

Harrington said he wants a standard of four minutes or less for fire response.

Currently, if a house fire happens in Gates overnight, a dispatcher pages volunteer firefighters at home. The firefighters drive to the station, change clothes and wait for a crew of four or five before responding, a system that takes precious time away from battling the blaze.

But after the change goes into effect in September, firefighters will simply hop onto an available truck and head straight to the fire.

"We'll be able to respond right away," said Jeff Cooper, 30, of Westview Commons Boulevard in Gates, who was hired as part of the Homeland Security grant and also served as a dispatcher. "You could see from the system before that there was at least a delay in the time it takes to get from home to the station and then wait for others to arrive."

Today, about 85 percent of Gates firefighters are volunteers, down from 94 percent in 1999 and 100 percent in 1975. Gates has lost at least 53 volunteer firefighters in the past five years. A new firefighter's annual salary is $39,413. But the thought of Gates converting to a 100 percent paid fire department is unlikely.

"We're not getting rid of volunteers because they do a great job when available. Plus it would be too much for the taxpayer to carry," said Bill Gillette, chairman of the Gates Fire District board of commissioners.

The grant from Homeland Security will require Gates to pay more of the firefighters' salaries in future years and all of it after the grant expires in five years.

Gillette said it's worth the money.

"Can you put a price on great fire service and the protection of your loved ones?" he added. "What is the price of saving a life?"

Rocco Mastrangioli, a former four-year Gates volunteer firefighter, said he would have preferred a town hall meeting where citizens could weigh in on the issue.

"They should have presented it to everyone. Then if they showed evidence that there is a need, then we should go 24 hours and I would have been all for it," said Mastrangioli, 44, of Norwood Avenue.

ELAMOTHE@DemocratandChronicle.com