Staff numbers may be going up in the Austin Police Department, but it looks like they’re going in the opposite direction at the Austin Fire Department.

Saturday, August 26, 2000

Staff numbers may be going up in the Austin Police Department, but it looks like they’re going in the opposite direction at the Austin Fire Department.

If the Austin City Council approves the 2001 budget as outlined by city staff, the APD will get two more police officers, but no one will be hired to replace long-time firefighter Dana Miller, who was dismissed earlier this summer. That would bring the number of full-time firefighters employed by the city to nine, plus Fire Chief Dan Wilson. The combination department – some full-time and some part-time – is also authorized to employ up to 34 paid on-call firefighters, to supplement the efforts of the full-time staff.

A decline in full-time staff members was not a part of the strategic plan the department turned over to city officials more than a year ago, but it is a part of the strategic plan City Administrator Pat McGarvey gave members of the council fire committee.

If McGarvey gets his version of the AFD’s long-term strategic plan approved by the council, the department will eventually – through attrition and retirements – consist of six full-time employees, including Wilson, plus the paid on-call firefighters.

That’s a level that is not OK with firefighters, either part-time paid on-call or full-time. In a telephone poll Friday night of the 13 (out of 29) part-time firefighters who were home, all of them indicated that they would like to see the full-time force remain at 11 at the very least. More than half said they would prefer a full-time force of 15 plus the fire chief and fire inspector, to allow every shift a minimum of four firefighters. Having four people at the station means a truck can leave immediately in cases of structure fires, rather than waiting for any on-call firefighters to get to the station.

Fire Chief Dan Wilson is stuck between the positions of McGarvey and his firefighters. While he said that a full-time force of 15 would be great in an ideal world, he stressed that he could make the department work with six full-time firefighters including himself.

"My job here is to make it work," Wilson said, pointing out that the force is the largest it’s been since he started there in terms of numbers available to fight a fire. "Whether we have 15 or 10 or five full-time firefighters, what I want is a decision from the council. They need to decide instead of leaving it hanging there."

His triumph, Wilson said, has been in convincing McGarvey that some full-time staff are necessary. When the city administrator was first hired by the city, he was of the opinion that Austin should eventually move to an entirely volunteer or part-time paid on-call force.

The part-time firefighters contacted unanimously agreed that option was not acceptable to them and not what they signed up for when the department became a combination department eight years ago.

While the full-time firefighters didn’t want to comment individually, a statement was issued by Jim Mattice, the president of the Austin Firefighters Local 598, on behalf of the union members. The statement follows:

"We, the Austin Firefighters, Local 598, are very concerned about the current and future level of staffing at the fire station. Staffing levels of full-time firefighters greatly affect the ability of the fire department to provide the services you, the citizen, depend on. Unfortunately, it appears that the number of full-time staff will be on the decline in the future. We enjoy a good working relationship with the part-time firefighters. Together, we have worked hard to make the combination fire department over the last seven years, successful. With the rumored changes coming, we feel that it is important for the citizens of Austin to express their concern to their elected city council members. It is the city council that decides the fate of the fire department, they need your input."

Before Miller’s dismissal, the combination department was operating on a three-to-maintain-two-person schedule. That meant that a minimum of two full-time firefighters was scheduled for each shift, three if no one was on vacation or sick. With a minimum of two firefighters on duty, any lesser calls for things like auto extrication could be answered immediately, and any structural fire calls had a commander and a pump operator to anchor the firefighting teams. Since Miller was suspended and subsequently dismissed, sometimes the shifts have gone down to one, other times firefighters have had their vacation time canceled to maintain the two-person minimum agreed upon during the last round of contract talks.

Wilson and the firefighters both agree that they would like to see more public input into the decision of staffing levels at the department.

That’s about all they agree on. While firefighters focus on scheduling, Wilson explains that suppression is really only a part of effectively attacking Austin’s fire problem.

"I know your fire safety isn’t dependent on how many people are waiting at the fire station," Wilson said. "The biggest myth in the fire business is that someone sitting at home is going to be safe if there’s a fire because the fire department will save him. It takes more than that: it takes technology and fire code enforcement and education. They are three equal sides of the fire triangle – take away any one of those and the whole thing will collapse."

"Since we became a combination department, we have actually improved our ability to suppress a fire," Wilson said, pointing to the rating given Austin by the insurance companies. "In eight years, no one has been able to point out where we have failed to provide the services that our community needs. What I see as the failure in the strategic plan is the greater emphasis on suppression forces, when we need to be examining fire code, education and technology just as much."

The other myth Wilson points out is the image of a fire department staff just sitting around waiting for a fire call. Wilson and the others in the department have done a lot to increase focus on the other two sides of the triangle, which means the firefighters are busy during the working hours both in and away from the department. Department members install smoke alarms in residential homes, they visit businesses and apartment buildings both to inspect and do pre-plans in case the building should catch fire, they put on educational programs in the schools and other places.

"What everything – staffing levels, prevention, etc. – comes down to in the end is money," the fire chief added. "How much is the community willing to spend?"