The Austin Fire Department’s paging system was the focus of Monday’s Fire Commission meeting.

Tuesday, June 05, 2001

The Austin Fire Department’s paging system was the focus of Monday’s Fire Commission meeting.

The issue was the pager system and how they notify firefighters. At present, the department wants to have pagers aligned for three groups when they are on a call. All are on the same page now. The pages are sent out from the Fire Department equipment from the firehouse. They also are able to transmit them from the top of the Twin Towers in town.

Fire Chief Dan Wilson said: "In the event that lightning struck these sites, we have access to transmit from our trucks. Dispatchers become overworked. We are trying to be more productive for our dispatchers. Short of an all call, this will work, as you need pages everywhere. There are advantages and disadvantages to this system."

The issue came to surface a week ago when lightning struck the Fire Department’s main paging site, an antenna on top of the water tower on 14th Street NW.

Jim Mattice, president of Local 598 of the full-time firefighters, spoke for the firefighters present.

"We want to free radios up. We want a full-time group with a part-time group on calls," Mattice said.

Dan Wilson elaborated more about the pager problem.

"Our mistake is we sometimes call too many people," he said. "This cuts down on dispatch. We need less pagers. This will get more experienced people to the site when we need them."

The firefighters were disgruntled because they can’t make fire calls everyday when they are part-timers. They have families and other jobs. All calls usually go to the full-timers and the rest go to part-timers. Two groups usually are called out on a call, an "A" group of full-timers, and a "B" group; there also is a "C" group to call. It was recommended by the council to go with three pages, or the chief and commanders could develop how to communicate on their own.

To program the new pages will cost about $800. This will happen within the next six months.

Councilwoman Jeanne Poppe said: "Please communicate to everyone in the department that this will happen ASAP."

In other business, a leave of absence was requested by Ryan Qualey and granted. At present there is no procedure to reinstate firefighters. A motion was passed that a returning firefighter must qualify physically for the job.

Dennis Harmer wants to terminate his involvement with the department but he has not submitted a letter. A letter would be drafted by the city for him to sign so he could be terminated.

The position of secretarial duties for the Fire Department was proposed to increase the hours to 20 hours per week. At present a person works 14 hours a week.

City Council members asked whether another part-time city worker could handle these duties. The budget currently has this position for 14 hours a week. Having an additional six hours a week would make the employee eligible for benefits. A consultant is looking into this for the Fire Department.

Call Sheila Donnelly at 434-2214 or e-mail her at newsroom@austindailyherald.com.