Save Money and Fight Fires (or something like that)
THE CITY OF GRAND RAPIDS, MICHIGAN, HAS DIRECTED the Fire Chief Laura Knapp to cut spending 10% over the next three years. So she has come up with a plan that the City Council loves to hear. So much so that yesterday morning (Tuesday) they unanimously approved the plan and gave her the go-ahead to start implementing it.
The city has 11 fire stations and Knapp plans to replace the fire engines in three of them with "Quick Response Vehicles" (QRV's), described by the fire department as "basically a Dodge chassis with a box on the back" for a 300-gallon water tank and compressed-air foam system.
This GRFD drawing looks an awful lot like THIS ONE:
SGVN photo
The selling points for this conversion are first of all, replacement costs of $873,000 for all three units compared to a comparable price for one real fire engine.
Secondly, the QRV's will only carry two firefighters instead of the three or four currently riding on the real fire engines. This will allow the department to operate with 12 fewer firefighters, music to a councilman's ears. Twelve is the magic number because the SAFER grant that the FD received to fund 12 positions runs out in three years and apparently the city does not have plans to retain those slots.
Chief Knapp projects a total savings of $21 million over the next 15 years once the plan goes into effect.
The Grand Rapids Press tells us:
Knapp hopes they will help the fire department maintain existing service levels in the face of coming staffing cuts.
About 89 percent of current fire-service calls are handled by a single unit, Knapp said. The "quick-response" units could handle those calls, she said.
"We need to better align our resources with these single-unit calls to ensure our performance is maintained (as we reduce firefighters to cut costs)," Knapp said. "Right now we don’t have a lot of flexibility in our deployment. The (‘quick-response vehicle’) is the answer for our current rigid operational system."
The firefighters themselves aren't convinced yet that fewer fire engines and fewer FF's will translate into "maintaining existing service levels." William Smith, president of the Local tells the GR Press, "If they’re rolled out, we’ll do what we’re told to do. There’s a question of how effective they’ll be."
WZZM-TV filed this brief video report:
Full report in the Grand Rapids Press HERE.
Local President Smith speaks more about their skepticism HERE.
Firegeezer notes: These things became popular back in the great recession of the late 1970's. Back then they were called "mini-pumpers" and were introduced with the same promises we're hearing from Grand Rapids. Several dozens of fire departments jumped into the concept, but within three years they were all back to Plan A. Why do people think it will magically start working now? Or is this just a gimmick to get the budgeteers to turn their focus onto another agency?
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KayCee City Manager Wants To Lay Off Firefighters, Use Savings To Give Other City Employees Raises
1 commentPencil Pushers Have Gone 3 Years Without a Raise
KANSAS CITY, MISSOURI, CITY MANAGER Troy Schulte presented his proposed budget to the City Council members on Tuesday. His $1.3 billion proposal includes a lot of cutbacks in several city services, but the one measure that has raised eyebrows is his suggestion to lay off 105 firefighters. He told the Kansas City Star, as Kansas City’s economy remains stubbornly sluggish, firefighters should no longer be untouchable. "We have to make strategic reductions in public safety," he said.
City Manager Schulte (K.C. Star)
In a most absurd justification, he is also quoted by the Star:
So there you have it. The number of firefighters and fire stations is to be determined by how many fires you get, not what you need when get a fire. By his logic, all the firehouses will then be clustered around the high-activity neighborhoods leaving those slow residential areas to stand in the front yard and watch as their rare house fires consume all they own. As for the airport… well, a hot-line phone box will do. How often does a plane crash out there, anyway?
But as the late Ron Popeil used to say, Wait, there's more! Again from The Star:
No raise in three years, but at least they'll still have a job. This is budgetary Russian roulette.
Note: He earmarked $5 million for police raises and the balance for other management-level employees.
The City Council at its regular session today (Wednesday) publicly reviewed the proposed budget. The Local had exactly 105 firefighters in the council chambers this morning making their presence obvious. KSHB-TV Ch. 41 had their video crew there too, and filed this report earlier today:
Local 42 President Mike Cambiano believes that this just might be some sort of dance and preening on the part othe city manager leading up to contract negotiations with the FF's that begin in April. In addition, the fire chief was never consulted by the city manager on these proposed reductions.
Later this afternoon, following the above video report, Fire Chief Smokey Dyer addressed the Council. The Star reported this afternoon:
Mayor James will present his response to Schulte's plan tomorrow. However one councilman didn't wait to voice his opinion:
The City Council will approve whatever budget is decided on in late March for the fiscal year that begins on May 1.
Read the earlier referenced story from the Kansas City Star HERE.
Read a more in-depth report on the city manager's plans HERE.
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