The Norwich Fire Department requested a $17,000 transfer in June to cover increased fuel costs for the remainder of the year, effectively doubling what the department had budgeted for 2022. (Photo by Tyler Murphy)

NORWICH - The Norwich Fire Department is quickly burning through nearly twice its annual fuel budget, revealing the negative impact that high gas prices are leaving on local municipalities.

The department sought a $17,000 transfer from the city’s general fund in June - $12,000 for ambulance services and $5,000 for fire equipment. The transfer almost doubles the combined $17,500 for fire and EMS fuel that had been budgeted for 2022.

While NFD has a few vehicles that rely on regular gas consumption, most equipment consumes diesel. The department runs three 1,000-gallon class A engines, an 1,800 gallon tanker truck, a 100-foot ladder truck, and four ambulances –- all of which operate using diesel fuel.

The department budgeted more than $2,000 more for fuel than in 2021. But at roughly $7 per gallon of diesel at its peak in June, NFD anticipated depleting its fuel budget by the end of the summer.

“The way fuel prices were going up, we knew we weren’t going to make it through the year,” said Norwich Fire Chief Jan Papelino. “We realized early on that we were going to have to do a transfer.”

Papelino had conversations with the city’s mayor and finance officer. The consensus, he said, is to add more money to the department’s fuel budget than what he actually expects will be needed for the remainder of the year in hopes of avoiding another budget transfer later on.