Stations suffer staffing woes

A staffing crunch in the Spokane Fire Department has forced Chief Bobby Williams to leave a firetruck unused in at least one neighborhood station on some days and could lead him to close a fire station in 2006.

Budget cuts, illnesses and on-duty injuries have depleted the force so much that the department finds itself in a day-to-day struggle to fill rosters in all of its 14 stations.

“We are going to be forced to, if there are additional cuts, look to (closure of) fire stations,” Williams said in a recent interview.

The chief recently established a system for dealing with staffing shortages through the end of 2005.

If the roster is one person short, then the three-person crew on the fire engine at Station No. 9 at 1722 S. Bernard becomes a two-person crew and moves off the engine and onto the station’s brush rig.

That means the crew is no longer available to make an initial attack on a house fire but could respond with other engines as part of a larger fire force.

If the roster is two or more persons short, then the department dispatches the engine from Station No. 1 at 44 W. Riverside to another of the neighborhood stations. The engine then fills in for the day while the regular station rig is idled due to the staffing shortage. One day last week, the engine from the downtown station was dispatched to cover for the engine at Station No. 14 at 1807 S. Ray.

The department lost 52 firefighter positions in wide-ranging city budget cuts for 2005 and could face even more losses as the city contemplates at least $2.5 million in reductions for 2006. The department’s 24-hour force has dropped this year from 65 to 58 firefighters, including two battalion chiefs.

Councilwoman Cherie Rodgers on Wednesday said the general fund budget is about $4 million short for 2006. The fire department comprises about 20 percent of general fund spending, which means it could face a cut of $800,000 in 2006. That is roughly the cost of keeping a neighborhood station staffed with a three-person engine crew around the clock.

The council is expected to hear an update on the administration’s 2006 budget projections during a briefing session today at 3:30 p.m.

Mayor Jim West said he is asking a citizens’ task force to look at options for raising more money, including a possible ballot measure this year asking voters to raise the city’s regular property tax lid for 2006 in order to restore some of the cuts made in 2005.

“We’re not at the point yet where we cannot cover, but it’s tight,” West said last week about the fire staffing. “The next step is to close a fire station” unless the city comes up with additional tax revenue, he said.

In May, the City Council approved hiring back eight laid-off firefighters because illnesses and injuries had caused the department to overspend on overtime pay. The council shifted $369,000 from two reserve accounts and an equipment account to pay for the reinstated firefighters’ salaries and benefits.

Even with the eight additional firefighters, the department is running into problems fielding a full roster on some days, Williams said.

Lt. Greg Borg, president of the firefighters’ Local 29 union, said his members are concerned about maintaining adequate staffing on firetrucks.

“What we would prefer is close a station for the rest of the year, but the mayor wouldn’t hear that,” Borg said.

The number of emergency medical and fire calls is up 3 percent in 2005. The number of fires where crews hook up to hydrants to extinguish flames had increased by 64 percent through mid-April.

The higher number of fires led to more on-duty injuries, Williams said.