Who Ya Gonna Call?

AFD Central Station, town center

The staffing problem at Amherst Fire Department -- or more precisely the lack of staffing -- has been well known for a v-e-r-y long time now.

Actually the problem is much bigger than that, including as well police, who often work shoulder to shoulder with firefighter/EMTs at the scene of an emergency.

The Town Manager acknowledges that (sort of) in his FY15 budget submitted to the Select Board last January:

But in his more recent memo (July 7) to the Select Board on "Long Term Staffing Plan Recommendations," there's not even a spark of hope for hiring more firefighters or increasing the minimum on-duty staffing.

One police officer is mentioned as a possible addition -- but only if the proposed regionalization of Emergency Dispatch saves $62,908 to fund that position.  An unlikely scenario. 

   

In 1992 AFD had a minimum of 7 on-duty personnel.  Today, after a doubling of call volume, the department has that same 7 on-duty minimum.

Yes, UMass/Amherst has kicked in an extra $80,000 to fund 4 extra firefighters (2 ambulances) Thursday night thru Sunday morning during the academic year, but even then, with weekend partying, they are still overwhelmed.

A 2003 study done by the town recommended a minimum staffing of ten.  Previously, the Fire Protection Needs Committee issued a report in 1966 recommending minimum staffing of fifteen. 

Back in 2005 the department received a $500,000 SAFER (Staffing for Adequate Fire and Emergency Response Act) grant to hire five firefighter/EMTs.  The federal grant program went into effect after 9/11 in an effort to bolster fire departments nationwide to at least minimum standards of protection.

The program has grown from $65 million awarded in 2005 to  $340 million awarded last Fiscal Year. AFD was one of only two departments in Massachusetts to win the grant back in the program's inaugural year, when far less funding was available. 

It's time to think about another SAFER grant application.

The terms have even changed to potentially being less costly to cities and towns, with the main difference being a municipality can lay off the employees at the end of the three years.  Previously a full year (in year 5) of locally funded employment was part of the contract.

Sure it may seem unfair to hire folks for only the duration of a grant, in this case three years.  But as long as you are up front about that during the hiring process, prospective first responders can decide for themselves if it's worth the risk.

The Amherst  Police Department, for instance, just had to lay off a "crime analyst" after two years of state grant funding.  But the department is better for having had her.

Considering interns often work for just for resume enhancement, at least these first responders would be fully paid while gaining valuable experience with one of the best departments (and certainly busiest per capita) in the state. 

In building his FY14 budget the Town Manager relied upon ambulance revenues of $2,195,723.   But because our department is so exceedingly busy (ambulance runs account for about 70% of all FD responses) actual revenues last fiscal year were a whopping $2,533,728 -- an additional, unexpected $338,000.

Or enough to fully fund five new firefighters, grant or no grant.