Rutland firefighters hope to regain staff
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By STEPHANIE M. PETERS STAFF WRITER - Published: February 20, 2010
Jim Miles, his brother Robert "Buddy" Miles and Brent Adams, all firefighters on the Rutland City Fire Department's A-shift, sat in a classroom in the second floor of the firehouse Friday afternoon discussing the upcoming city budget vote, when a call to the department's emergency phone line came over the intercom.
A carbon monoxide alarm was set off somewhere in the city.
The men poked their heads into the hallway, awaiting their instructions. Would they respond with two or three trucks? Two, came the answer. Jim Miles, assigned to drive the ladder truck for the day, sat back down while the others headed out on the call.
Typically, the department responds to any call it receives with seven firefighters and three trucks, one ladder and two engines. Depending on the outcome of the upcoming budget vote, they could soon be operating with less.
Included in the mayor's fiscal year 2011 budget proposal – which goes into effect July 1 – is funding to replace three full-time firefighters the department lost to attrition more than a year ago.
In the interim, those staffing gaps are being filled by "part-time" firefighters, who do not work steadily throughout the year, but when they do work typically work about 48 hours a week – just as much as the full-time staff, but without benefits. The arrangement is an agreement that was reached by the city and fire department union, of which Jim Miles is the president, last year. It was always designed to be a temporary cost-saving measure, Miles said. He also points out that, since 2000, the department has lost 15 firefighters and only replaced seven.
To emphasize the importance he gives to these positions being brought back full time next year, Mayor Christopher Louras has cut funding for the part-time help.
The cost to taxpayers of the budget switch? The budget is up by about $429,000, most of it related to salary and benefits. On a home assessed at $150,000, the increase would account for about $50 of the total $400 increase all of the spending items on the ballot pose.
Essentially, the change in the budget proposal leaves the city and the fire department with only two outcomes: Support the budget or reduce the fire department's staffing.
To be exact, 120 days out of the year the department would have only six firefighters at the station and likely the use of only two trucks, according to Miles. The rest of the time, the department would respond with seven firefighters and three trucks. On the other side of the coin, if the positions are approved, 183 days a year the department would have eight firefighters on a shift, and seven the other 182 days a year.
To explain the implications ahead of the budget vote isn't a scare tactic to compel the city's support, argue Miles and Chief Robert Schlachter — just the truth.
"We sit here and listen to everyone asking, 'why do they need three more firemen?'" Miles said. "It's common to hear out there 'do more with less.' We can't do any more with less. These three positions will affect how we protect the people and the property of Rutland."
Both Schlachter and his staff describe the department's current response to a fire call this way: Two engines and a ladder truck head out on most calls.
When all seven firefighters are at a scene, usually three but at least two, will remain outside of the structure. For at least two of those firefighters, their responsibility is to prepare and await the call for water.
An Occupational Safety and Health Administration regulation known as "two in-two out" mandates that the two officers assigned initially to fight the fire cannot enter the structure until two more firefighters are on the scene and in their gear, including breathing apparatus; in other words, they must be ready to rescue the other two if something goes wrong. The only exception is if it is confirmed someone is in the burning structure, according to Robert Miles.
"We're basically asking the public to help us help them," Jim Miles said of the budget proposal. "This will give us the manpower we need to protect their families and go home to ours."
There is a chance that for the first two years, none of the cost of the three replacement firefighters would fall to the voters. Last year, Schlachter wrote a grant proposal to the Staffing for Adequate Fire & Emergency Response Grant program. He said he thinks the department might hear as soon as April.
In the five years since Schlachter's been at the department's helm they've met with success — securing about $750,000 in grant funding.
Schlachter discounts some residents' suggestions that the city should turn to a volunteer department just because it's worked in communities Rutland's size around the country, he said. Volunteer departments in outlying towns are seeing their membership decline and many people are working multiple jobs and cannot afford to volunteer, he said.
For more information about staffing levels, the department's operation and their health care costs, they're encouraging residents to visit www.rutlandfire.info. They also welcome questions and drop-in visitors at the station.
stephanie.peters@rutlandherald.com
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