The Oxford Fire Department is in the process of hiring new employees to get their station fully staffed. This will reduce some of the workload on Norwich EMS, who has responded to 35 calls outside of their certificate of need area in the last three weeks, 21 of which were to Oxford. (Photo by Sarah Giglio)

NORWICH — After years of being stretched thin by emergency calls outside of their certificate of need (CON) area, the Norwich Fire Department is finally getting a hand.

The Oxford Fire Department is in the process of hiring new employees in an effort to fully staff their station. In turn, this will relieve some of the pressure put on Norwich to answer calls outside of their CON area.

Currently, the Norwich Fire Department CON area covers the City of Norwich, the Town of Norwich, the Town of North Norwich, the Town of Plymouth, and the Town of Preston. However, they often respond to calls in other municipalities, including Oxford, McDonough, Pharsalia, and more.

Fire Chief Jan Papelino said that between June 15 and July 6, the Norwich Fire Department had responded to 35 emergency calls that were outside of their CON area.

"We’ve been out of the CON 35 times. 21 of them have been to Oxford, three were in Mount Upton, two were in Sherburne, one in New Berlin, one to South New Berlin, one to Pharsalia, and two in McDonough," said Papelino.

A good majority of calls come from Oxford, according to Papelino. He said Oxford is "by far the municipality that we respond to the most."

But, with Oxford hiring more employees, he's hoping they will be able to respond to more calls in the future.