The Springfield Fire Department’s reaction to firefighter layoffs is more complicated than simply closing one firehouse one week and another one the next.
Eleven of the 12 city firehouses are to be closed, one at a time, on a rotating basis in the wake of 17 firefighter layoffs caused by the city budget crisis. The closures started Sunday with Station 3, 801 North Grand Ave. W., which officials originally said would be shuttered for six days.
Station 3 was closed Sunday, but firefighters were back working from the station on Monday. Because of staffing quirks caused by vacations, scheduled days off and similar factors, fire staffing – and therefore station closures – will vary from day to day, officials said. They weren’t sure if Station 3 would be open today.
The staffing problems also mean fire rigs might be moved from station to station. As a result, even if a firehouse is open, it might not have the right type of equipment to fight a certain fire, so equipment also might have to be called from a station farther away.
For instance, two rigs, Engine 3 and Engine 11, were out of service for the entire day Sunday, according to Deputy Division Chief Greg Surbeck.
Engine 3 normally is housed at Fire Station 3 and Engine 11 at Station 11, 1805 Toronto Road.
Rigs vary
On Monday, only a single engine – Engine 11 – was out of service, he said. Station 11 instead was housing Truck 3, which is equipped with an aerial ladder and rescue equipment normally assigned to truck companies. However, Truck 3 can’t pump water to put out a fire.
As a result, areas covered by Station 11 would not have seen a difference Monday in emergency medical services offered by the fire department, Surbeck said. Firefighting, however, could have been affected.
In general, in firefighting terminology, an engine can pump water. A truck cannot.
“The response – getting someone on scene – would be the same amount of time,” Surbeck said. “I guess to get something with water would be increased a little bit.
“We’re playing business a different way right now,” he said. “We’re trying to maintain our normal response times with the equipment we’ve got available.”
Surbeck said Monday happened to be a quiet day for Station 11.
Because of the layoffs, Mayor Tim Davlin’s administration says there isn’t enough personnel to staff all 12 fire stations simultaneously.
The only station exempt from closing will be Fire Station 1, which covers downtown from Ninth Street and Capitol Avenue. Fire Station 1 also is the department headquarters.
On Sunday, with Station 3 closed, eight companies were sent to a vehicle fire in a surface parking area beneath the overhang of a building at 621 E. Monroe St.
That left four engines and one truck to cover the rest of the city, Surbeck said. Two of the remaining engines were relocated to spread out fire protection, he said.
Fire contained
Sunday’s fire, called in about 8:30 p.m. by a passerby, was contained to the parking area and first floor.
The second floor above the parking area consists of apartments that are being remodeled. They were not damaged, Surbeck said. The only resident of the building got out before firefighters arrived.
It took firefighters about 90 minutes to contain the blaze, Surbeck said.
Calling out eight companies is typical for a commercial fire, especially one downtown and near other buildings.
“If you’ve got that much fire in a commercial building, that’s pretty much a standard,” he said of the response. “It’s up to the incident commander, but that’s only a few more companies than what we send on a normal house fire.”
House fires require less manpower because the structures are typically smaller than commercial buildings and are not directly next to other buildings, he said.
“With a 100-year-old building, there’s going to have a lot of changes in it, and we’ll be slower to get walls opened up than in a modern house,” Surbeck said. “Downtown, when you have buildings sharing the same walls, the fire can spread quickly, and that’s when (firefighters) want to get ahead of it and contain it.”
Rhys Saunders can be reached at 788-1521. Staff writer Deana Poole contributed to this story.
Fire equipment terms
* Engine – A truck outfitted for firefighting, specifically one outfitted to pump water from a hydrant or other water source.
*Ladder truck – A truck outfitted with an aerial ladder, but not necessarily outfitted to pump water.
*Tanker – A truck that carries its own supply of water or other firefighting agent.
Firefighter vote
Springfield firefighters will vote today and Wednesday on proposed concessions that could save the jobs of nine laid-off firefighters.
The contract concessions to be considered by members of International Association of Firefighters Local 37 are:
*Delayed pay raises. Raises due March 1 and Sept. 1 would be postponed to Feb. 12 and Feb. 26, 20011.
*Monthly budget reviews. The city budget would be reviewed monthly to see if any major revenue changes have occurred that would reduce the number of layoffs.
“Fire department personnel will be taxed with no more layoffs or furlough days, unless budget FY 2011 projections fall short of anticipated revenues,” the proposals says. “Should this occur, we will talk about the possibility of further concessions”
*No-layoff guarantee. No further layoffs, beyond eight, would occur between March 1, 2010 and Sept. 1, 2010.
Seventeen firefighters were laid off over the weekend. Nine of the 17 firefighters could be recalled if the union approves concessions.
The remaining eight firefighters would remain laid off to compensate for furlough days that the union didn’t want to take because the union believes furlough days require engine houses to be shut down. The union says it’s working with the city on furlough alternatives.
Springfield Fire Department firehouses
View Springfield Fire Department stations in a larger map
Read the original article from The State Journal-Register.
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