So, for the Camden, New Jersey, Fire and Police Departments a terrible day is upon us. I mentioned this yesterday, Camden is laying off 30% of their Fire Department and 50% of their police department today. The guys at Firefighter Close Calls have collected a good deal of information, here.
Public Safety lay-offs have become politicians go-to tool for slashing budget gaps. "We will just have to do more with less!" is a rallying cry you can hear regularly during times like this. You cannot do more with less unless you have some kind of technological advancement. Henry Ford did more with less because he saw how to maximize the potential of the assembly line. A Boeing 777 has a cockpit crew of two (rather than the three person crew of the early days of commercial jets) because engineers figured out how to automate the monitoring of Engines and systems. A computer takes care of tasks that were once done by a flight engineer.
We cannot do more with less on the fireground. It takes human beings to force entry, stretch hose lines, throw ladders, and for God's sake SEARCH for any of our neighbors who may be trying to get out.
The Village I live in I chose for two reasons: good schools and a career fire department with 4 person companies. Shortly after I bought the house my family lives in now the Village board at the urging of an anti-union Village Manager laid-off three firefighters and shut down my first due Truck Company; they made it clear they wanted to reduce staffing to three person Engines and rely on automatic aid for all Truck work. I went in with my wife to have a discussion with the Village Manager. That is 2 hours of my life I will never get back. The one thing that stuck with me was when he said, "You are the only person who will come into complain about this." He was right.
We have to recognize that the political climate for Fire Departments has changed. We are often viewed as an expensive and unnecessary insurance policy. Do your part to change that view. Go to my article "Why We Need Firefighters" and write something like it for your local paper, or email the link to the editors and see if they will do something with it.
To the men and women of Camden, good luck. To my Brothers and Sisters there, keep your heads held high. To the politicians all over this country who are slashing staffing rather than taking a hard look at other poor spending choices, acknowledge you have delusions of adequacy and tell your citizens the truth. You will not do more with less, and they are more at risk then they were before.
I am glad you are reporting information but instead of griping, complaining and pointing fingers. Why don't you assist these politicians, management leaders and unions in developing strategies to accomplish goals of keeping fire apparatus staffed? The bottom line is, just like you home budget, you can't keep spending more than what you make. Yes, some of our leaders or politicians have allowed this to happen. Instead of banking revenue while the boom was going good, they made foolish mistakes of increasing spending.
ReplyDeleteWe are all feeling the stretch. We also see the unions equally to blame. Our hands are tied when we look at other staffing options such as volunteers or reserve firefighters filling seats on apparatus.
Unfortunately some, not all of your brothers and sisters in the unions see them as "TAKING AWAY A PAID JOB" instead of a well trained part time paid, reserve or volunteer capable firefighter who can save a life just as well as a paid person.
Your article in Fire Engineering shows a horrible example of uneducated publishing. Any fire dept that allows firefighters to stand around when an eminent rescue is warranted should be "Terminated" on the spot!!! We signed onto this career, be it volunteer or paid just like a police officer or military officer, to save a life. We are trained in doing this. If there is a child who is in need of being rescued we will do all we can do to rescue those victims!!
2-in-2 out is not required on an eminent rescue.
Now, say this is the same crew responding to a MVA with multiple trapped children and they normally have a crew of 4 plus the second engine of 4 more only 5 minutes away. But today the second engine was browned out and you are now down to 3 firefighters on the engine. This could pose a definite issue in having enough personnel to operate rescue tools and treat victims at the same time.
Thank you,
Jessie Rosewall
Asst Fire Chief
River Delta Fire Distict