FREDERICKTOWN — The Fredericktown Community Fire District took advantage of a prime opportunity at a Morris Township trustee meeting last week to answer questions and address concerns surrounding the issue of paid daytime staffing.
The FCFD board of trustees has been discussing whether or not to add paid daytime staffing to its district, which is comprised currently of volunteers. At February’s board meeting, Lt. Charles Swank, speaking on behalf of the firefighters, said the volunteers backed the idea.
The FCFD is comprised of the village of Fredericktown and Berlin, Middlebury, Morris, Pike, and Wayne townships. Dick Kershner, a Morris Township trustee, has had objections to adding daytime staffing. FCFD Chief Scott Mast provided a document to the Morris Township trustees with common questions and comments surrounding the topic of paid daytime staffing. Those can be found below.
A) Question: Is there enough work to keep personnel busy? The following is a general non-inclusive list of activities that can be performed by the daytime staff.
- Participate in school fire/safety drills.
- Conduct school participation visits to encourage future volunteers and develop community relations.
- Attend Fredericktown Community Development Foundation meetings along with other public safety officials.
- Conduct vehicle maintenance and minor repairs.
- Complete building maintenance and minor repairs.
- Complete minor equipment repairs.
- Perform lawn maintenance.
- Complete and enter required fire reports into the appropriate data bases.
- Conduct annual fire hydrant testing.
- Assist EMS as needed.
- Conduct building emergency action preplans.
- Conduct church/civic/senior citizen visits to teach fire safety and develop community relations.
- Assist with required annual testing of pumps / hoses / ladders / air packs.
- Conduct dry hydrant testing / repair / installation.
- Complete turnout gear maintenance.
- Conduct daily fire service training and fitness training.
- Research and write grants.
- Conduct fire safety inspections.
- Perform station cleaning.
- Conduct certification compliance checks of personnel.
- Attend the monthly County Fire Chiefs Association meetings.
We can assure that personnel would be tasked with duties to ensure a state of readiness, to save the district operational expenses where feasible, and to be a significant asset to the tax payer. Members of the FCFD have a strong reputation for be very active, involved, “go-getters”, and not firefighters to sit idle when work is to be done.
We consider it to be very pertinent for the fire department to be seen and active within our community, staffing in an area of our size can accomplish that.
B) Comment: 2 personnel aren’t enough to fight a fire.
This is an accurate statement. In reality, there is no fire department in our county that has enough personnel on staff to properly fight a typical fire alone. Mutual aid from neighboring departments is utilized to attain the appropriate amount manpower and equipment.
However, these two personnel would respond immediately to a fire and conduct an emergency rescue operation if needed, assess the situation and call for additional resources, and at a minimum start applying water to the fire from the exterior of a building. With a fire doubling in size every minute, any action taken as early into the event as possible is a positive step towards preserving as much property as possible.
C) Question: Can we afford to hire personnel?
With our current budget and continuing to be fiscally responsible, we have the resources to fund this undertaking. As with any undertaking of this significance and the continual rise in the cost of operational expenses in conducting daily business, it may at some point be necessary to seek additional funding, as is common with any organization. We have been fortunate to operate under the same levies for the past 18 years. We have not asked the public for any increases in that time frame due to financial responsibility, long range planning, and trying to stay ahead of issues. Few, if any departments, schools, or other entities around the region can say that they have been able to maintain their organization for 18 years with the same levies based on tax values from 18 years ago.
We currently operate under two levies valued at one mill each. To keep in perspective the amount of tax a person pays towards fire protection services, a property valued at $100,000 today would be taxed at $70 per year or $0.19 per day.
Preliminary “template” financial considerations have been presented to the board for potential consideration. These “templates” were derived with much consideration towards the financial impact on the department’s budget. Moderation and affordability were the primary basis of implementation.
Daytime staffing would enable us to perform certain services that we are not able to perform currently. Conducting these services creates an extremely high likelihood that a decrease in homeowner’s insurance rates will take place. During our last audit by ISO, the organization that establishes a Public Protection Classification that is utilized by insurance companies to establish insurance rates, I specifically addressed how we could effectively lower the cost of homeowner rates. This is not a simple “yes/no” answer since the rating is based on a multitude of factors and a complex numerical equation associated to those factors. However, the agent stated that having paid personnel on station and being able to complete certain activities such as those personnel could complete, are significant factors that have tremendous potential to lead to a reduction in insurance rates.
The more appropriate question might be, can we afford not to hire personnel? How much damage can be done if we are unable to respond to all calls for service? If a life is lost or a severe injury results, at what price did this have to take place? If our community loses confidence in how we respond to their needs, will they continue to support our operational levies? If our department becomes known as one that regularly has mutual aid handling our calls and we lose credibility with our constituents, the negative effect will include our current members losing the pride they have worked hard to attain and potential future members won’t want to be a part of our organization. These are intangible values that may not have an established dollar value on the front end but most certainly would have a tremendous negative value on our reputation, the trust our community has in us, and the service we can provide.
D) Question: How effective can 2 personnel be on calls for service?
Although there is no “typical” call for service, I can say that two people could handle some calls or at a minimum start to mitigate the problem until additional resources arrive. Having feet on the ground and eyes on the situation at hand is invaluable towards assuring the person having the emergency that corrective action is being taken.
We have looked beyond guesswork in the creation of this staffing plan at the FCFD. Leadership, and those involved, have completed significant research into other departments who have effectively built similar programs, and we have looked to specific studies. In fact, the National Institute of Standards and Technology issued a study back in 2010 which shows a direct correlation between crew sizes and arrival times influencing saving lives and property, (Averill, Barowy, Peacock, 2010. Report on Residential Fireground Field Experiments, NIST Technical Note 1661).
We are still fortunate to have volunteer personnel that have limited availability during the day or have some availability, but with extended response times to the station from their work. These personnel still plan to respond, and we will still rely on the long tradition of a backbone of volunteers to serve our community.
Most importantly, having the two personnel staffed during the daytime hours will have an immediate effect on response times. The recommended standard for a staffed station is 90-seconds from time of call for fire operations (NFPA 1720).
E) Comment: Mutual aid assistance can be used to help out when we can’t staff a call for service.
This is a loaded statement. It is true that our dispatching system is set up to call in a mutual aid department if we do not respond to a call. This takes place after four minutes of no response. The determination of which department will be called in is dependent on the geographic location of the incident. One must keep in mind though, that depending on whether the mutual aid department is paid or volunteer, there is still a substantial amount of response time associated to drive time and time for volunteers to get to their station. Additionally, most mutual aid departments are also volunteer departments that are experiencing the same lack of available personnel during the day.
F) Comment: Firefighters will leave if we hire personnel.
I do not see the logic behind this statement and have not heard this comment directly from any of our firefighters. Having daytime staffing does not eliminate anyone from our roster or endanger their spot on the roster. Everyone’s position remains the same. If one of our personnel has the attitude that significantly increasing the safety of our community is going to cause them to leave, then I don’t believe they are here for the right reason whatsoever.
I see daytime staffing as being a huge benefit to our current members as well as their families. Those that have some type of availability during the day can feel a sense of relief that they don’t always have to drop whatever they are doing to answer a call, thus relieving some stress from them and their family life. They also can have some assurance that staffing levels on a call will be better and therefore safer and more effective.
The amount of additional work/duties that is required by the volunteer members on weekends and evenings will be reduced as the daytime staffing can complete some of these tasks. This will again, reduce the stress level of members from having additional things to complete around the station that requires them to be away from their families on yet another evening in addition to the time spent on calls.
Staffing will undoubtedly reduce the burden on our membership and therefore reduce the burden on their spouses and family members. In turn, this should create a more positive experience for the members and increase employment longevity.
G) Comment: People are tired of paying taxes.
I must admit that I have probably never heard a single person say “I enjoy paying taxes.”
In November of 2017 there were 13 tax levy issues on the ballot throughout Knox County. 100% of these levies were passed and most were passed by significant percentages. Based on this information, I find it difficult to support the notion that people are completely tired of paying taxes. Based on the overwhelming public support of all tax levies at the last election, it is safe to say that people will support tax increases that they deem appropriate and beneficial to the quality of life.
I feel that given the tremendous value and security this plan will extend to our community, and based on our current levies being 18 years old, that if in the future it would be necessary to seek some additional funding, that our community would support a reasonable increase.
The fire department is no different than any other household or business. Operational expenses in general are continually rising with cost increases in utilities, tools and equipment, repairs, etc.
H) Comment: These positions are being created for two firefighters who currently have part time jobs.
This is far from the truth. Neither the chief, the officers, or the membership of the FCFD have EVER made any insinuations in regards to this statement. It is unfounded and unbecoming of the values we strongly posses and adhere to. The facts of the matter are clearly stated in the statistics of firefighter availability during the daytime hours during the week.
In the fire service whether a firefighter works an 8-hour, 12-hour, or 24-hour shift, they most often have another secondary job in the fire service or elsewhere. Without even looking beyond the Knox County lines to other areas, there are firefighters whose career in the fire service operates in such a manner. Personnel working multiple positions is a common practice that has been going on for a substantial period of time.
I) Comment: There are three firefighters that work at Kokosing and are allowed to leave work during the day.
This is a false statement. The fire department only has one person that works at Kokosing locally and is permitted to leave work, although he does not get paid by Kokosing during that time. We have two other personnel that work at Kokosing but they do not work locally and therefore are not available to leave work.
It is not expected out of any of our volunteer firefighters to leave their daytime job and not get paid in order to respond to a call.
It is equally not expected that local employers should allow volunteer firefighters to leave their daytime jobs to respond to a call and for the employer to pay them during that time. Local employers should not be expected to financially fund the fire department over and above what they pay in taxes.
The FCFD board of trustees will once again take up discussion at its next meeting, which will take place at 7 p.m. on March 14. The meeting is open to the public. The firehouse is located at 139 Columbus Rd., Fredericktown.
