More firefighters on duty will improve ambulance service and fire coverage but cost money. It’s a value decision the selectmen are being asked to make. Fire Chief Kevin Tappe has proposed an increase in the minimum required shift from six to eight firefighters.
“It’s going to be roughly $260,000,” First Selectman Rudy Marconi said of the annual cost. “But there are still going to be a host of other issues that will need to be discussed.”
With only six firefighters on, if two ambulances or fire vehicles are out — each staffed by two firefighter/EMTs — and there’s a fire, a department fire truck will show up but the two firefighters who arrive in it can’t go into the burning building.
“You’re not allowed to. You shouldn’t, for your own safety,” Marconi said.
“If two are going in, you have to have two people outside.”
These rules aren’t town policy but come down from OSHA, the federal Occupational Health and Safety Administration.
Marconi spoke Tuesday, Jan. 19, after costs had been worked up for a couple of approaches to the shift increase, for presentation to the selectmen as the town’s fire commision Wednesday night.
Costs of $237,000 to $262,000 in the first year and $250,000 to $267,000 in the second are projected from the proposal.
Chief Tappe argues the town could substantially improve ambulance and fire service by boosting the minimum required shift in the department from six to eight firefighters.
“Basically, we’re running four apparatus with staffing for three,” Chief Tappe told the selectmen during their quarterly meeting as the Fire Commission in December.
The selectmen asked for detailed financial figures, Controller Kevin Redmond, Human Resources Director Laurie Fernandez and Chief Tappe developed them, and the selectmen scheduled the shift proposal for discussion at a special fire commission meeting Wednesday.
The less expensive approach to the shift-expansion program — the one originally outlined by Chief Tappe — would bump the required minimum shift up from six to eight firefighters but hold down the increase a bit by not refilling the two currently empty full-time firefighter positions in the department. The fire department has 34 positions, excluding the chief, assistant chief and fire marshal. Controller Kevin Redmond projected the cost of this approach at $237,000 in its first year, rising to $250,000 in the second year.
A slightly more expensive plan would refill the two empty positions, while increasing the shift minimum from six to eight. Redmond projected that cost at $262,000 the first year and $267,000 the second year.
All the department’s firefighters and line officers are EMTs capable of serving on ambulances, and a number are paramedics.
Although a big fire can be a huge and demanding event that strains resources, it is the ambulance service that is the bulk of the department’s day-to-day business.
But addressing the workload would cost money, and Tappe’s Dec. 9 discussion with the selectmen revealed that is not something the board is prepared to do lightly.
Some 2,000 ambulance calls a year make up close to two-thirds of the department’s work — in 2013 there were 2,182 calls (65%) and in 2014 there were 2,103 (64%).
In 2014, there were about 60 ambulance calls Ridgefield couldn’t do because firefighters were already engaged in other ambulance calls or fires. Danbury Ambulance covered 52 calls in Ridgefield that year, and Georgetown Ambulance covered eight to 10 calls for Ridgefield, Tappe said.
“We do 2,200, 2,300 a year,” Tappe said of ambulance calls.
“That’s six a day,” said Controller Redmond.
“Forty-five a week,” added Tappe.
“And we’re missing one,” said Selectwoman Barbara Manners, looking at the 50 to 60 calls a year that have to be covered by the Danbury and Georgetown services.
“It is a small percentage,” Tappe said.
“Yeah, it is a small amount,” Manners agreed.
“The amount we’re missing is so tiny, it might not be worth it to add a quarter of a million to the budget,” said Selectwoman Maureen Kozlark.
Part of Tappe’s argument is that the demand for ambulance services is sure to rise, as Ridgefield continues getting older and grayer — along with the rest of the country.
“We know the calls are going to increase,” Tappe said. “The population is aging.”
Marconi added that the construction of another assisted living facility — some sites have been looked at by companies in that business — could be a big boost to ambulance demand.
But adding staff is never an easy sell.
“We went from a four-man minium to a six-man minimum in 2000,” Marconi said. “Chief Nagle said it would reduce overtime costs. It didn’t.”
Marconi said this week that he thought any plan to change the shift staffing would be complicated.
“From my own personal perspective — I am not speaking on behalf of any other members of the Fire Commission or Board of Selectmen — but I believe this is going to have to be negotiated in the contract, that we cannot just simply implement a change like this without discussing it with the union.”
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