Cut Costs at Fire Department
Published Tuesday January 27th, 2009
Most fire halls in Canada would envy the number of firefighters, fire stations and equipment in Saint John.
In a city with only 68,000 people, 161 full-time firefighters operate out of seven stations with some of the best equipment available.
The Insurers' Advisory Organization has deemed the level of protection so high, it has credited Saint John businesses with a coveted two rating. This positions the Saint John Fire Department as one of the top 20 fire services in the country.
The high level of protection comes at a big cost. With a $20.4-million budget this year, the local fire department is by far the costliest in the province. That's nearly $300 for each person who lives in Saint John.
It's stunning, then, that Saint John Mayor Ivan Court takes issue with people who complain about the price.
During a pre-budget interview on the local CBC station, the mayor used the example of his own father who needed medical attention Saturday morning at his east side home on Ellerdale Street. Court said the firefighters who responded came from the west side because all the east side firefighters were tied up with the tanker truck that turned over on its side on Loch Lomond Road earlier that morning.
In that incident, electrical arcing gave minor shocks to two police officers and a small amount of oil spilled.
"That tells you we don't have a Cadillac service," Court said. "If there was another incident like this, would there have been enough fire protection? I doubt it."
This statement demonstrates the wrong attitude when it comes to managing resources properly. No one disputes that it's important for an industrial city with old housing stock to have a good fire service. But does it make sense to send a ladder truck with several firefighters to help a senior with a medical emergency? The latest statistics, for instance, show that 32 per cent of the calls the fire department responded to in 2007 were medical emergencies.
Fire chief Rob Simonds says Saint John is following best practice by deploying fire personnel to such calls. The firefighters and big equipment are available for rare disasters, so in the meantime, they may as well respond to medical issues.
The chief argues it would increase costs to buy smaller cars for the seven fire stations to answer medical calls.
This is disingenuous. Big, costly equipment should never be sent for medical calls, piling on mileage and decreasing the life of these important and costly vehicles.
The district fire chiefs at the fire stations all have SUVs. There are also full-size sedans available to fire inspectors. Surely, during medical emergencies, these vehicles could be freed up.
The mayor's cheerleading for everything the fire department wants isn't surprising given that the local firefighters' union supported him in the last election. But it was voters who elected him, not just firefighters, and they still want value for their hard-earned tax dollars.
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Comments (57)
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Insisting on the PD, FD and Operations finding efficiencies within their departments, listening to ideas from the public, asking for ideas from inside, implementing these ideas and rewarding the suggestor of cost savings ideas, might result in a better managed city and better run departments.
Perhaps our Fire Chief to do some reasearch. Yes, thriple response (ambulance, fire, and police) was once considered best practice. However in the articles I have read this was along with "Medical Priority Dispatch". This utilizes a triage approach to dispatching as to whether EMT alone is all that is required or whether FD rescue units are needed to respond as well.
So instead of sending all these big expensive trucks to every emergency (thus bring up stats and budget) we should be looking across North America at what best practices really are.
www.emergencydispatch.org
Brian. Yes it's true we do a coverage system but in that instance on the weekend that truck did come from Manchester Ave because it had to stay in between lower west and the city limits. And it wasn't a ladder truck as the paper reported. and it only had 4 people on it, the same as all our apparatus.
Ella. Check the budget. The Fire Department recieved half the percentage as the Police. The police have 160 people and a budget of 22 Million. The Fire department has 170 full time and apporx 30 casuals and budget of just over 20 Million.
Colin. PSCC(911)does follow a triage system just like other cities. we are not sent until the emergency reaches a certain level. We only respond to approx 30% of the calls that Ambulance NB recieves. So it's not about bringing up stats. To respond to medical calls only requires .4% of the budget.
Colin. I'm not sure how you would find out about dipatch policy. I could tell you how Fire is dipatched. The info I am providing is all in a report that the Fire chief submited to coucil and is available on the city web site. All his stats are verifyed by PSCC through there computer aided dispatch as well as reports filed through the NB Fire Marshall. These may be good jumping off points for you if you would like any more info. In the meantime I would answer any question open and honestly . As for the EMT's I would suggest you find one and ask them. You would be very surprised how little ambulance coverage there is in the city from time to time.