AFD on scene, Hadley
The minimum staffing level at Amherst Fire Department -- only seven on duty -- that results in routine "calls for station coverage" from Dispatch during the week will now be in effect on weekends as well, until late January when our institutes of higher education start their spring semesters.
Thus only three ambulances can be staffed.
Reacting to negative attention brought on by all the drunk students cannibalizing our ambulances, UMass wisely decided to kick in an additional $40,000 per semester to fund four extra on-duty weekend staff (13 total), but that money ran out for this semester on November 2nd.
Since then AFD used its own "regular department overtime" to fund an extra two on duty staff (bringing total to 9, or potential staffing for four ambulances) but this past weekend was the last time until start of next semester. So now we're back to only three ambulances.
Notice over this past weekend there were two separate clusters of ETOH (intoxication) events at UMass that tied up two ambulances simultaneously; and when that happens again over the next two months it leaves only one ambulance remaining for the rest of Amherst, as well as Leverett, Pelham, Shutesbury and Hadley.
Thus if you are going to have an accident over the next two months needing an immediate ambulance or firetruck, you may want to schedule it for a weekday.
Even then ...
11 comments:
How much overtime is paid out for station coverage, and how does that compare to the cost of more fulltime firefighter positions?
Not sure if that is easy to figure out or not since overtime is used for a few other things besides just station coverage.
I do know the total OT budget for FY14 is $175,000.
Actually... some shifts have more than 7 firefighters on duty. 7 would be their minimum staffing, but some days there are 8 or 9 on duty thus providing an additional ambulance, it depends on how the rotation falls if I understand it correctly.
Unless you had something very different in mind from what I think you meant to say, you'd better double-check your post's headline.
Okay, just to make you happy ...
Make me happy? Hey, I'm perfectly happy to see you embarrass yourself.
Hey, whatever keeps bringing you back as a reader.
All shifts have more than 7 scheduled. It is just that they don't hire overtime for replacements for illness, injury or whatever until it gets down that low. Hit or miss.
And 3:51 is right. Check your first word...
To truly understand the staffing issue at AFD you need to know how the department works. Each of the 4 shifts or "Groups" as we refer to them is assigned 10firefighters. On any given day there will be between 7 and 10firefighters on duty. This does not include chief officers. Today, 11/27 we have 9. The number varies due to the fact that we often have members out for different reasons. These include vacations, members who are out sick, those who are injured either on or off duty, as well as those who may be detailed for training. (which is the case today). If the number of firefighters scheduled to report for duty on a particular day drops below 7, we will hire back off duty members on overtime as necissary to maintain 7. This is our minimum staffing.
Our department has a policy of "cross-staffing". What this means is that when I come to work, I am assigned to both the engine and an ambulance in my station. I will respond with whichever unit is needed for a particular request for service. Because of this, we frequently have most, and sometimes all of out on duty staff responding to ambulance calls. This leaves our fire apparatus understaffed or unstaffed on a regular basis. Because of this limited staffing, we truly roll the dice, so to speak, on an almost daily basis.
Twelve years ago, the National Fire Protection Agency (NFPA) adopted "NFPA-1710 Standard for the Organization and Deployment of Fire Supression Operations, Emergency Medical Operations, and Special Operations to the Public by Career Fire Departments" This standard states that engine companies and ladder companies should be staffed with a minimum of 4 firefighters. Here in Amherst we regularly fall far short of this national standard. Our engine companies often respond with 2 or 3 firefighters, and sometimes only 1. This occurs because all of the other on duty firefighters are assigned to ambulance calls. Currently our ladder company and rescue company are UNSTAFFED. These units are filled with either on-call firefighters or off duty full-time firefighters when an incident occures. This causes a delay in the response of these pieces of apparatus as the members need to first report to thier respective firehouses and then respnd to the scene. Not a comforting thought if you happen to be trapped on an upper floor.
NFPA-1710 also contains the following passage;
"5.2.2.1.2 In jurisdictions with tactical hazards, high hazard
occupancies, high incident frequencies, geographical restrictions,or other pertinent factors as identified by the authority having jurisdiction, these companies shall be staffed with a minimum of five or six on-duty members."
By any estimation, a 26 story residential highrise buliding would qualify as a "target hazard", as would many of the labs on the college campuses. Another portion of the standard outlines the tasks to be performed at any structural fire and the number of firefighters needed to effeciently and safely perform those tasks. The minimum number of firefighters called for by the standard to respond on a first alarm is 15. On a good day, if we have all 10 people on duty, and there are no ambulance calls, we can respond with 10.
1/2
As I've said before, you will have a difficult time finding any other department with a population the size of Amherst and with a call volume as high as ours, with similar target hazards,
that operates the way we do or has such a low minimum staffing.
The residents of the town as well as its leaders need to think of the fire department as an insurance policy. We all pay rather high premiums for our insurance, and we hope we don't ever have to use it. However, when we do need to use it we're awfully glad its there and can cover everything we need it to, and we sleep just a little better at night knowing we have that safety net in place. In the end, it is up to the town and its residents how tax dollars are spent. However those decisions should be made with a full understanding of how or department works and what we can and can't do with the number of firefighters we have at any given time, as well as the potential consequenses of keeping the fire department chronicly and dangerously understaffed. Anyone, including town officials, who tell you that there is no such staffing problem clearly has no idea of what we do or how we do it.
For those that are interested, I will include a link where you can read NFPA-1710 in its entirety.
If this detailed account is accurate (or even mostly accurate), this situation seems close to negligence. Town officials who crafted and implement these policies are likely shielded from prosecution if litigation occurs. That likely leaves the Amherst tax payers footing the bill if the lawsuit goes against the town. Amherst operates on and outside the edges of more than its share of municipal aspects. Sooner or later...
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