Fire Chief Mickey Healey and city of Austin staff are working to correct what City Administrator Jim Hurm called a lack of communication in recent months.

The misunderstanding arose in September, when Hurm issued a memo to Healey instructing him to discontinue EMT training within the department. According to the memo, Hurm wanted the training halted because he was concerned about the firefighters’ union agreement, which states training at an EMT level will be deemed a change in terms and condition and grounds for entering into negotiations with the union.

“Your actions of conducting such training go well beyond just providing extra training to the personnel,” Hurm’s memo states. “Your actions have serious ramifications associated with our labor agreement with IAFF — Local 598 for which we have negotiated in good faith.”

However, the fire department signed a letter of understanding with the union dated Feb. 23 — shortly before the training began — stating the training would not require the city to enter into negotiations.

Hurm said he was worried about the possibility for a negative budget impact with increased wages because of the training. He said he would not have ordered to halt the training had he known about the agreement, which Healey provided him after Hurm issued the memo.

“(Healey) provided me with what I was looking for, which was that it was not going to cause union negotiations,” Hurm said. “He solved the problem right away, so it wasn’t halted.”

According to Healey, the firefighters had already completed training and were EMT certified by the time Hurm requested Healey stop the training process, so there was no training to halt.

“I advised (Hurm) that we had a letter of understanding with the union that they would not seek additional wages,” Healey said. “I also explained to him that the firefighters did pay for the EMT side of the class. The training had already completed, so there wasn’t any training to continue.”

The fire department was directed by City Council in 2008 to begin training to a basic emergency response level. That never happened, according to Healey, and during his hiring process it was made clear that training would be necessary in the near future.

Healey said he made an effort to save the city money by training at Riverland Community College, where training costs were less. A medical first responder class for 10 firefighters, about one-third of the department, would have cost about $2,000, Healey said. However, Riverland was able to train the entire department at a basic EMT level — one step up from first responder — for $1,900, plus the cost of the instructor and books.

The firefighters attended the training on their own time so as not to incur overtime costs and they each paid for their own training, according to Healey.

“All the guys agreed they think it’s in the best interest of the citizens to go to the EMT level,” Healey said. “They … attended on their own time and requested no compensation. Each one of them paid $300 a piece to go to that level so the city didn’t pay for that part.”

Healey said he would like to see his firefighters dispatched to medical calls along with police officers, especially because the police department has a high call volume already. Healey said dispatching fire personnel with officers could improve response times, make officers more available and provide certified medical service to citizens, since many officers don’t hold up-to-date first responder certifications. Improving response times by dispatching the fire department sooner could make the difference in an emergency situation, Healey said, particularly when so many officers are tied up on other calls on a consistent basis.

“If the police department has a tremendous call load that night and they don’t have officers readily available, they shouldn’t hesitate to call us,” Healey said Tuesday morning. “They can supplement with the fire department.”

Hurm said he wants to encourage cooperation among departments, so he, Healey and Police Chief Brian Krueger have begun meeting to discuss public safety. However, the question of dispatching fire personnel on medicals isn’t one that has been answered yet.

“I’m not ready to give a response to that,” Hurm said regarding whether the city will entertain Healey’s dispatching request.

In Healey’s opinion, dispatching EMT certified firefighters to medical calls will provide better service for citizens and reduce the city’s liability. However, City Attorney David Hoversten said there are no liability issues with police officers responding to medical calls without having up-to-date certifications.

“I feel that there’s no liability because (some officers) aren’t EMT certified,” Hoversten said. “Liability isn’t necessarily based on the level of training. Anyone can sue for negligence. Anyone can make a mistake or do something wrong, and that’s what makes them liable.”

Healey said he would want his firefighters on medical calls even if liability wasn’t one of his concerns, though.

“There are certain rescues that the fire department is trained to do and the police department cannot because of safety and OSHA (Occupational Safety and Health Administration) standards,” Healey said. “In those rescues, we need to have some kind of medical training to make sure we’re doing proper care of patients. The whole thing of working with the police department is just a side effect.”

Healey said helping the police on calls would mostly help free up officers for other public safety needs like traffic stops and crime reports.

Hurm said this topic will be discussed among he, Healey and Krueger in the near future. If they decide it’s a good idea to dispatch fire personnel as first responders on some medical calls, that recommendation would need to be brought to City Council.

“I’m not trying to stop cooperative efforts,” Hurm said. “I think we do need to work on communicating between the two chiefs and myself, and we’re working on that.”