The firefighter's union in Torrington is calling for staffing on the city's east side, which they say is one of its fastest-growing areas.

Twice in the last week, the Torrington Fire Department responded to calls in the area. The department admits it could have gotten there in half the time if there had been anyone stationed nearby. These two calls included a chimney fire on Saturday on Farmstead Lane.

"It was an outside fire that came inside the structure," said Fire Chief David Tripp Jr. "If we had a crew there closer, we probably could have stopped it from coming inside."

Tim O'Donnell, the president of the Torrington Firefighters Local 1567 admitted it was frustrating.

"Seconds make a difference," he said, "so when we are minutes behind, potentially lives that could have been saved are now unsavable."

The Torringford Volunteer Fire Department used to be right in the neighborhood, but it closed almost one year ago because of issues with recruitment and retention.

Without it, the East Side has "no direct access now," according to O'Donnell. "It takes between eight to 12 minutes for a Torrington Fire Department unit to respond from either of our two staffed fire houses to get to this area of the city. The industry standard we're looking for is four minutes."

The department did transfer the lease of the building to the city, but crews have not moved in yet.

"I have a plan that I'm working on," said Tripp, "a full-blown plan, like a strategic-type plan for Torringford."

First, he says the inside of the building needs to be renovated. The first phase of that project is just now getting started.

"The mayor's supportive of it, she knows the need, and I know the need...so we're all trying to work together," said Tripp. "Is it something that's going to happen overnight? No."

With the help of overtime pay, the department says the building could be ready to have daytime staffing by the summer.

"We'd ultimately like to increase the ranks and do it the proper way," said O'Donnell.

But to give the area full coverage, O'Donnell says up to 24 more firefighters will have to be hired.

Tripp says that could take a few years, and will need help from both the state and federal government to pay for.

"I can barely afford my budget now, so how am I going to do that?" he said. "We need help. We're reaching out to everybody to see how we can not just burden the taxpayers."

"We are open to any creative solutions that get us closer to our end goal," O'Donnell added. "The potential benefits certainly outweigh the costs here."

The union says people who live on the East Side and want to make sure the work continues should go to the City's Board of Public Safety meeting on Wednesday.