| Nov 15, 2007 EMERGENCY SERVICES: Officials debate EMS-fire staffing |
| Changes could be on the way for the Ridgefield Fire Department, but whether the changes are what the firefighters want or what taxpayers might tolerate remains to be seen. Fire Chief Heather Burford and nearly 20 fulltime and volunteer firefighters packed the Nov. 7 meeting of the Fire Commission as Chief Burford laid out reasons to raise the minimum shift size from six to eight. The Board of Selectmen, which also serves as the Fire Commission requested the presentation on the staff increase, although at least two of the members appeared to remain unconvinced about the need for more staff. In her hour-long presentation, Chief Burford outlined the department’s three-fold role in town as firefighters, inspectors and Emergency Medical Service providers. It is this third hat the department wears that is quickly becoming the bulk of its work. Chief Burford said roughly 80% of the department’s calls are now medical, and she expects that number to grow as the town’s population continues to age. The ever-increasing EMS call volume, coupled with a six-man minimum can mean there is no professional staff covering the town. “Everyday we have to walk a very fine line,” Chief Burford said. “We routinely have to sacrifice 50% of our fire response due to EMS calls. Sooner or later, that is going to catch up to us.” Stretched thin The town currently allows the department a maximum of seven firefighters per shift, with a minimum of six. Even with the addition of two new firefighters who exclusively work the day shift, the department often finds itself working with just six professional staff. The Catoonah Street station has a staff of five maximum, four minimum, who staff one engine and one ambulance. The Ridgebury station has just two firefighters, who staff one engine. “We routinely have to take Engine 2 out of Ridgebury to cover the downtown after two medical calls,” Chief Burford said. Sick time and vacation days combine to pare down the professional staff on a regular basis, Chief Burford said. “We have a town with a population of 25,000 people and 34 square miles to cover,” she said. “We’re getting to a point where we’re going to reach a breaking point.” Selectmen Andy Bodner and Di Masters, however, questioned whether hiring more firefighters was the answer. “If medical calls are increasing, why not staff two ambulances?” Mr. Bodner said. “Why do you need the two engines in service? Can an engine respond to a medical call?” Chief Burford said while engines can and do respond to medical calls, engines “have a different set of tools. Those tools really only work for fires.” Firefighter Michael Moore, president of Local 1739 of the International Association of Fire Fighters, also said staffing an ambulance instead of an engine was not the answer. “You have to see all the gear we need,” he said. “You can’t put out a fire with an ambulance. You really can’t respond to a fire with just ambulance. There is no place for everything we need to fight a fire on an ambulance.” Costly decisions Chief Burford said Engine 2, which the town bought in 2004, already has more than 40,000 miles on it. She said most of that travel occurs moving Engine 2 from Ridgebury to downtown to cover that station. “We get 79% of our calls at the Catoonah Street station,” she said. “We’re constantly having to cover down there, which means 21% of our town has no one covering it.” Selectwoman Barbara Manners said the town needed to make some sort of change, if only to save “wear and tear” on Engine 2. “What’s clearly changing is you’re getting more and more EMS calls,” Ms. Manners said. “I’m just wondering if there isn’t a way of addressing the EMS situation without necessitating new fire apparatus. We don’t want to hit the point where someone can’t get help.” Although the commission was sympathetic toward the department, Ms. Masters and Mr. Bodner were in the lead in resisting spending money. Chief Burford said it would cost $154,000 to hire two more professional firefighters. Two hires would allow the department to have what she called an “eight and eight,” eight minimum and eight maximum. Two hires, however, could increase overtime at the department as shift commanders make up for sick and vacation time. An alternative, Chief Burford said, is to hire six new firefighters and have a maximum shift of 10 and a minimum of eight. Although the initial outlay would top $400,000 in salary and benefits, it could save on overtime since each shift would have two over the minimum. In either case, the amount the town would have to front surprised Ms. Masters. “I’m astonished at the cost,” she said. “We have a choice of two or six people. I don’t know if we can afford either.” Although the commission appeared to seize more on the lack of actual fire calls the department receives — roughly just 2% — it also did not seem to understand how the department responds to automatic alarms. Chief Burford said an automatic alarm is “the worst call we get, because we have no idea what’s going on.” Unlike a 911 call, which a person makes and can describe the situation, an automatic alarm simply notifies the department of some sort of “event.” “Because we don’t know what’s going, our procedure is to send one engine and one ambulance to the scene,” Chief Burford said. “The Bissell’s fire (in 2005) and the Georgetown Auto Body fire (in May) were automatic alarm calls.” Although hesitant to commit to any financial outlay, the commission agreed to study the need for a minimum of eight and could possible allow the department to “experiment” with eight-man shifts after the New Year.
|