Fiscal Forecast – Mostly Cloudy

IF THEY ONLY KNEW …

A common lament heard around the fire station kitchen is that if the public only knew what the budget cuts were doing to the fire department, they would put a stop to it. Last week we looked at the impact of recessions in Fiscal Years 1982, 1983, 2002 and 2009. This week we will take a longer look.

FORD TO CITY: DROP DEAD

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New York City laid off more than 40,000 employees at the start of Fiscal Year 1976. This included 1,600 FDNY firefighters. While the city hired back 700 firefighters within three days, 900 others lost their permanent firefighter jobs. It would take two years before the city could rehire all the laid off firefighters who reapplied to FDNY.

Some of them were temporary employees working on a federal Housing and Urban Development grant that paid their salary because they would board up roofs and windows of fire-damaged buildings, preserving the city housing stock. FDNY assigned them to ladder companies as the fourth or fifth position. All of the HUD funded temporary employees were laid-off FDNY firefighters.

WHY ST. LOUIS AND RICHMOND WENT TO QUINTS

When Neil Svetanics was appointed the Fire Chief of Saint Louis in 1986, the mayor required a significant reduction of the firefighter workforce. Svetanics established the Total Quint Concept because of the mayor’s mandate. 30 quints replaced 30 engine companies and 12 truck companies.

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St. Louis Quint Co. 1 by Keith Belk

When Jack McElfish became the Richmond, Virginia, fire chief in 1996 he was facing a department that, like many big cities, suffered a steady decline in firefighting resources. Jake Rixner describe the situation in his 2001 Fire Engineering article “To Buy (or Not to Buy) a Quint.”

In 1971 the Richmond Fire Bureau (RFB) had 25 two-piece engine companies, nine aerials and two tactical squads. Eleven years later the department shrunk to seven two-piece engine companies, 13 single rig engine companies, nine aerials and one tactical squad. Minimum daily staffing was 150 firefighters.

By 1996 the department was shrunk to 20 single rig engines and six aerials. Much of the apparatus was worn out, many made by fire apparatus vendors long out of business like Maxim and Hahn. Chief McElfish proposed a Total Quint Concept, establishing 20 quints and three heavy rescue companies. Minimum daily staffing was reduced 100 firefighters.

Rixner described “Christmas in March” when the new rigs arrived. The new rigs included features that were common in the fire service but never seen in the city, like instant-on tire chains.

His article went on to describe his concerns about firefighter safety and operational issues when operating in an all-quint system with four firefighter staffing. Responding to the article, John Mittendorf (retired Los Angeles City battalion chief) pointed out that Austin (Texas) was staffing their quints with six to eight firefighters.

RFB operational information here: http://www.ci.richmond.va.us/departments/fire/operations/quint.aspx

IT JUST TAKES A COUPLE OF BIG FIRES … OR NOT … SAN DIEGO COUNTY

Sitting at the firehouse kitchen, we would speculate the impact of a couple of large loss fires to get the community’s support. Unfortunately, we now know what will happen. San Diego County suffered devastating wildfires in 2003 and 2007. Almost a million acres were burned, destroying almost 6000 structures and killing 38 civilians and one firefighter.

I remember hearing a presentation from a deputy chief describing a situation where he was trying to defend a community with one county pumper and the nearest help hours away. California was burning, as it is doing now. Closest help was Phoenix, Arizona, but they are not part of the CalFire system.

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San Diego, 2007

California uses a grand jury system to analyze and report on municipal issues. On May 29, 2008, “The Fire Next Time – Will We Be Ready?” was filed. The twenty page report makes eleven recommendations. http://www.co.san-diego.ca.us/grandjury/reports/2007_2008/Firereport.pdf

John Becknell, publisher of the Best Practices in Emergency Services newsletter and a San Diego County resident, reflects on this issue in his July ruminations:

… the citizenry continues to reject more support for essential fire services, despite dire consequences. The loss of thousands of homes from two devastating fires in the last five years have not been enough to change minds, prompting a recent San Diego County Grand Jury report to call the county “woefully unprepared,” and an academic expert to declare San Diegans “serial non-learners when it comes to fire preparation.”

We have to recognize that what is best or ideal may have a changing meaning. Saving lives or property is no guarantee of funding. People take more risks during hard times. With 78 million baby boomers bearing down on retirement, gas prices soaring, the housing crisis continuing, the economic slump deepening, many local governments are near default and many states are slashing education budgets, releasing prisoners early and putting off infrastructure repairs in an effort to stay afloat.

http://www.emergencybestpractices.com
Hmm, this could be a rocky Fiscal Year 2009, and 2010, and 2011.

Mike “FossilMedic” Ward

Also on FireGeezer…

• Excessive Sick Leave Axes FDNY 5th FF on Engines – December 1, 2009
• 20 Fewer FDNY Fire Companies? – February 1, 2010
• How do you spread thin resources? – November 6, 2008
• The Shell Game Moves West – December 13, 2009