Editor in Chief Bobby Halton hit the nail on the head in “The King Has No Clothes … or Firefighters” (Editor’s Opinion, July 2008). My department is smallsix full-time personnel and 26 call membersbut our budget has been cut for three years. In Fiscal Year 2009, I have to present a zero budget, meaning I have to be at the 2008 minimumonly contractual increasesand I have to cut to get to zero.
I have no deputy, and I have to conduct training as well. We have no equipment maintenance, so rather than doing preplans, inspections, and fire prevention education, we fix stuff. It has been the culture here: Operate on a shoestring; get it done cheap. I sent them (the board) the Charleston Report, and they could care less. We are “only Pelham.” We don’t have to meet these standards. Even my personnel fight me on doing inspections and preplans. Training? They know it already! We are making some progress, but not having any financial support makes it tough. I changed our run cards, bringing in automatic-aid engines to make up the gaps. But we are all hurting. How long can we sustain it?
The notion that chiefs are slacking is unreal to me. I am sure there are some, but I am swimming upstream here. I have been a chief for five years and have never had an adequate budget. Halton’s article should be published in ICMA Magazine.
Michael A. Walker
Fire Chief/Emergency Manager/Fire Warden
Pelham, New Hampshire
“The King Has No Clothes … or Firefighters” hits the mark on the sorry state of affairs in many fire departments. I agree with the deficient areas highlightedtraining, equipment, staffing, and ordinances. But, I strongly disagree with the implied conclusion that the only answer is to throw more funding at the problem. It is true that in many cases more funding is required. But in many cases, communities are not getting the best or most fire protection for the money being spent. The answer is not only more funding but also better organization.
What the bean counters are saying is that they feel that with new technology and advances, the fire service should be able to provide fire protection with fewer resources. They have absolutely no conception of fire protection, so they are leaving the details on how to accomplish this to the professionals, the firefighters. The firefighters’ answer is that they don’t want to change and need more resources. It is “150 years of tradition unimpeded by progress.” So, we have a stalemate. Regionalization and consolidation are the answers to this conundrum for many fire departments.
In reality, I come from two worlds. The first is New York City, where I lived my entire life, with a large government and a large fire department. I spent 42 years there, protecting 8.25 million citizens plus millions of commuters, visitors, and tourists. The second is a small shore community, where I have a summer house, with less population than two NYC apartment houses, a small government, and a small fire department.
I have also been an adjunct professor and fire science coordinator for more than 20 years at a New Jersey county community college, where I interact with numerous small career, volunteer, and combination fire departments. In addition to my shore community, there are 565 other municipalities in New Jersey, with a total population of about 8.25 million (about the same as NYC) and about 700 fire departments. Looking from both ends of the spectrum, as far as fire protection is concernedeverything else being equalbigger is better, more efficient, more effective, and less expensive.
At 4:28 a.m. on January 19, 2000, a fire occurred in a dormitory at New Jersey’s Seton Hall University. According to an article in the January 20, 2000, edition of The Star Ledger, “South Orange fire trucks were on the scene and calling for assistance from other municipalities. …. The response was characterized as ‘immediate and rapid.’ ” But according to supporters of a plan to merge 12 Essex County fire departments into a massive regional fire district, the issue is not whether South Orange is doing its job but whether the whole system of fire coverage needs to be reexamined:
“Exactly a week before yesterday’s fire that killed three and injured 62 students, South Orange Fire Chief Jeff Markey pointed to the difficult expectation placed on the village’s small department to cover the town and Seton Hall University.
“South Orange has 32 full-time firefighters and three fire trucks to cover 16,350 residents in an area that is only 2.2 square miles, and the roughly 11,000 students and staff that work and live at Seton Hall for the majority of the year.”
“Markey’s comments came last week during an interview that focused on shared fire services among 12 Essex County municipalities. Markey remained neutral on the issue, saying he will wait until it’s studied by the towns before forming an opinion.” It’s eight years later; still nothing has been done.
I was in New Jersey a short time after the fire on another issue and had to look at a New Jersey map. One side was the entire state in a small scale; the other side was the northeast part of the state: Bergen, Passaic, Essex, Union, Hudson, and Middlesex counties, as well as Staten Island, New York. I looked at South Orange and its 2.2 square miles. It looked [quite small] compared with 60-square-mile Staten Island. At the time, I was the 8th Division commander, which included all of Staten Island and the southwestern portion of Brooklyn. When I got home, I hit the Internet and started to crunch numbers. Again, this was eight years ago, and the numbers might have changed slightly. I looked at the 11 Essex County cities with career departments west of Newark and east of the volunteer departments in the western part of the county. The cities are Orange, East Orange, South Orange, West Orange, Maplewood, Irvington, Bloomfield, Montclair, Bellville, Nutley, and Milburn. Together, these 11 cities cover approximately 60 square miles and have a population of 420,000 people. The on-duty firefighter strength totals 185. Staten Island’s 60 square miles and 420,000 population had an on-duty firefighter strength of 178.
When the 0438 hour alarm came in for Seton Hall, the South Orange Fire Department responded 1.5 miles to the dorm with eight firefighters. Newark had a firehouse with an engine and a ladder 0.8 miles from the dorm and wasn’t called for 18 minutes into the incident, with all kinds of rescues waiting to be made.
We have three colleges on Staten IslandWagner College, St. John’s University, and The College of Staten Island. If an alarm came in for any of these colleges, the initial response would be three engine companies, two ladder companies, and a battalion chief. Any indications of a working fire from the calls received would add another engine, rescue, and squadand possibly a third ladder with a total of 52 firefighters and officers. Is there something wrong between these two scenarios? They have more firefighters on duty in this portion of Essex County, are paying way more for their fire protection, but only eight firefighters are sent on the initial alarm, whereas in the Fire Department of New York it costs less and dispatches 52.
The July 10, 2008, edition of the Boston Globe describes a situation in Revere and Malden, Massachusetts, where the developer of a large multiuse development on the border of the two cities constructed a building with a dividing wall between two house companies of the Revere and Malden Fire Departments, free of charge. Technically, the building is in Revere and each department has its separate communications system so that if there is a fire across the street, only the Revere company will be notified to respond; the Malden company can stay in the firehouse and watch cartoons. Is there something wrong here? Both departments are now occupying the building. It didn’t fall out of the sky overnight, but no plans have yet been made as to response policy.
A new firehouse in Arlington, Massachusetts, was to have a sprinkler system but ran into water supply problems, which I am sure could have been remedied with tanks or pumps. The sprinkler system was replaced with another exit door. [This was the rationale]: “The decision was approved by the Fire Chief, as it was not considered a life safety issue. The main issue we had out there was inadequate water pressure to support the system and, given the size of the building, it’s a very small building, we are not required by code (to have the sprinkler system).” How many more firehouses have to burn down before the fire service gets the message? If we don’t lead by example, how can we expect others to install sprinkler systems?
St. Charles (IL) Countryside Fire Protection District trustees repealed a controversial sprinkler ordinance. The 3-1 vote came after two hours of debate and remarks from fire officials and a local home builder. “I think the ordinance is an invasion of the rights of property owners. It’s imposing obligations on new homeowners in the area that is nearly fully developed. What percentage of the population are we protecting?”
What message is the fire service sending? How often after a tragic loss of life or loss of property fire does the fire service interviewee say, “If the building had sprinklers, this tragedy wouldn’t have happened”? Almost never. It is a message that should be given at every fire.
We have met the enemy, and he is us.
Ted Goldfarb
Deputy Chief (Ret.)
Fire Department of New York
