Fire District 3 officials are hoping voters at May’s annual meeting will add more full-time firefighters on staff. Fire Chief Richard Arruda said it’s essential for the department, which has seen its call volume triple over 10 years.

“There’s been enormous changes in the town,” Arruda said. “We significantly increased our call volume but we never have been able to increase the on call firefighter status.”

On May 2, residents will attend the district’s annual meeting where the budget, capital expenses and other major items regarding the department will be decided. Registered voters are eligible to vote in the annual meetings of the district in which they reside.

District 3 is responsible for North Dartmouth, starting 200 feet south of Allen Street and covers UMass Dartmouth, the shopping district along Route 6 and the medical facilities on Faunce Corner Road.

As commercial growth exploded in the district, so has the number of service calls. Today, the department responds to approximately 900 calls annually, up from 300 calls.

Arruda said in that time the number of volunteer firefighters has dropped slightly, down to 42 from 50.

Currently, District 3 employs five full-time firefighters – one captain/fire inspector who works 40 hours per week and four full-time firefighters who provide station coverage 24 hours a day, seven days a week.

Supplementing full-time staff are volunteer firefighters who are in the station on a rotating basis from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m., seven days a week.

The arrangement provides the district with a skeleton crew ready to respond at a moment’s notice. However, a large pool of volunteer firefighters is needed to provide additional manpower. Arruda said several factors, such as stricter certification requirements, have limited the number of new recruits.

To remedy that, he said the district will ask voters to approve funds to hire five more full-time firefighters. Four would be regular firefighters and the fifth would be a deputy chief in charge of the recruitment and retention of volunteers.

The change would put two full-time firefighters at the station at all times, reducing response times.

Bringing on more staff is something fire officials have had in mind for sometime, Arruda said. The newly renovated fire station, which opened its doors in February, was designed for that.

Additional bunks and training space was added for that purpose as part of the $3.3 million renovation project, which was approved by district voters.

“So there’s a community buy in already,” Arruda said.

Figures on how much the additional firefighters would cost has not been released yet, as the warrant as yet to be finalized.