Fire Fight Consumes Sandpoint Consolidated Oversight Of Police, Fire Departments Compromises City’S Protection, Firefighters Say

An attempt to save money and improve fire protection has backfired in Sandpoint, say firefighters and some residents.

As one firefighter put it: “They need to figure out how to patch the hole in the side of the boat because we’re sinking.”

The problems are rooted in philosophical differences, low morale and a breakdown in communication. Until recently, city officials and firefighters appeared to be at a standoff.

But the spark that ignited a home last week also kindled a concerted effort on the part of city officials to salvage the Fire Department.

Suggestions have been made on how to do that, but city leaders have yet to reach a consensus.

Some City Council members are having second thoughts about a 2-year-old system that has one person overseeing both the fire and police departments. The council will meet tonight with the mayor to discuss the issue.

Beth Pederson’s house was destroyed on Thursday when an electrical fire on the porch spread into the attic. Some say the absence of the volunteer fire force hampered the Fire Department’s ability to put out the fire, though Pederson herself doesn’t blame the department for the loss of her home.

A week before, the Fire Department’s volunteers turned in their gear in disgust with management. The 10 volunteers were a key part of the department, which has seven paid firefighters.

A memo canceling “all training” set off their resignations, but discontent had been smoldering among the volunteers and paid staff for some time.

Two years ago, the City Council appointed Police Chief Bill Kice as public safety director responsible for the police and fire departments.

The unanimous vote came after impassioned pleas from paid and volunteer firefighters to hire a fire chief. The former chief, Don Keck, retired in October 1996.

The move was made to save $50,000 a year, but firefighters warned that it would compromise public safety.

Since then, “there was a morale problem because the firefighters felt like a stepchild,” said Gary Davis of Sandpoint Ambulance.

Volunteers said they never had any guidance from Kice, who rarely attended their bimonthly meetings and training sessions.

But Kice doesn’t see his role as one overseeing the volunteers.

“Once they get their certification, they are a stand-alone organization that’s recognized by the city,” Kice said. “They work with the career people on duty to get the job done. I don’t manage them.”

Fire officials in other districts say that volunteers need leadership, particularly at a time when it’s hard to find volunteers.

In Sandpoint, the volunteer numbers shrank from 18 active volunteers in 1987 to the 10 who just resigned.

In addition to saving money, the city combined the fire and police chief into one position to improve cooperation and communication between the fire and police departments.

As they studied fire trends, they had a hard time justifying their half-million-dollar fire department, city officials said.

First of all, Sandpoint is the smallest city in the state with a full-time fire department. That fact may stem from disastrous fires in the city’s early years. In 1900, a fire destroyed all but three houses in the original townsite.

Secondly, in Sandpoint and nation-wide, the number of fires is declining, said Mayor David Sawyer.

In 1997, firefighters responded to 185 fire calls, which could be as minor as a smoky smell or as major as an explosion. In 1998, there were 171 fire-related calls.

“Ultimately, all public safety management is a gamble,” Sawyer said. “You can’t plan for when four meth labs blow up at once. … If you tax too much, you lose the public trust.”

Yet the city lost a level of public trust last week as residents watched firefighters lose the battle to save Pederson’s house.

“If the Fire Department can’t respond to the one fire they have a year, what good are they?” asked Jerry Porter, a neighbor and friend of Pederson.

Firefighters believe city officials are gambling too much in their approach to public safety.

In their effort to shave costs, the council has cut the department’s overtime budget. Yet the department continues to exceed the budget.

Because of high overtime costs, the city instituted a policy limiting backup calls. Firefighters can call for a backup only after they’ve sized up the scene of a fire or rescue.

“Ninety-nine percent of the time, there’s no need for anybody to come, and they’ll be back in the building in 20 or 25 minutes,” Sawyer said.

Firefighters believe this policy hurts their response time, putting themselves and the public at risk. Had the old policy been in place, it may have improved the odds of saving Pederson’s home, they say.

The other major overtime expense was from training.

Kice recently canceled training for new volunteers, saying there weren’t enough to justify the expense. He also canceled any training that required overtime.

“My hope was that the training could be done when the training officer was on duty, instead of paying him on his off-time,” Kice said.

The result disrupted the ongoing bimonthly training sessions for volunteers and led to a terse memo from the training officer stating that Kice had canceled all training. It was that memo that prompted the volunteers to quit.

The consolidation of police and fire departments has been done all over the country, with varied success. Most cities still have a day-to-day commander for each department.

Sandpoint does not have that, which means a different shift captain is in charge of the Fire Department each day. The shift captain also becomes the incident commander at a fire scene.

“All of the sudden you’re going from being a captain to a fire chief without getting a chief’s wages, and who gets it in the long run is the citizen,” said Dan Blood, a former fire captain whose frustration led to early retirement.

One possible solution to the current situation is rehiring a fire chief - a move the firefighters would prefer.

A longer-term solution is to create a new fire district in consolidation with Sagle, suggests Dean Raynor, a fire captain at Sandpoint and fire chief of the Sagle Fire Protection District.

Raynor points to the Post Falls, Kootenai County and Hayden Lake fire districts, which are currently in the process of consolidating. Fire commissioners in those districts believe they can save money and provide better service by working together.

“If the city were to say to us, `Would you sit down and explore the idea of consolidation?’, I would certainly be willing to do that,” said Terry McConnaughey, a Sagle fire commissioner.

City residents would have to vote on the plan before the City Council could move to consolidate the fire department, according to an ordinance passed by the City Council in November 1996.

For now, the council will meet at 5:30 p.m. today behind closed doors to discuss Fire Department management.

This sidebar appeared with the story: MEETING Sandpoint’s City Council will meet at 5:30 p.m. today behind closed doors to discuss management of the Fire Department.