Feb. 13--The president of the union representing Jeannette's professional firefighters said the city's plan to study switching from full-time firefighters to all volunteers will be more expensive to the city and taxpayers.
Capt. Mike Bertolino, president of Local 78 of the International Association of Fire Fighters, said any change in the department's status could affect the rating that determines residents' fire insurance rates, likely will force Jeannette to build an additional fire station to ensure citywide coverage and will not reduce pension fund obligations.
"This is not an overnight process," Bertolino said. "They're going to cut public safety and not lower any taxes."
The fire department budget is $290,000 for 2014. The city must pay $89,000 toward the firefighters' pension plan, too, as well as $536,000 for police and $200,000 for public works employees.
When Mayor Richard Jacobelli and Councilman Gabriel Homan campaigned for office last year, they pledged to residents that they would at least study the issue of eliminating paid firefighters to ease the city's financial crisis.
Jeannette's financial problems stem, in part, from high pension costs for its police and firefighters.
Jacobelli said he understands the fire department's future is a "sensitive issue," but council will analyze the financial aspects to determine by summer whether the issue should be decided by residents via a ballot referendum in November.
The fire department, housed in City Hall, is staffed by a professional firefighter 24 hours a day. The full-time, paid firefighters are supported by others who are paid to respond to emergencies.
But Bertolino maintains the city would still be saddled with pension payments if council abolishes the paid fire department. To provide protection for Jeannette's 9,600 residents, council would have to build another fire station to answer the nearly 800 calls the department received last year, he said. Bertolino said an all-volunteer force could take longer to respond.
"We can be anywhere in the city within four minutes," he said of the current staffing.
Ninety percent of the 1,800 fire departments in Pennsylvania are volunteer units, according to the U.S. Fire Administration. The remainder are professional or a combination of paid and volunteer firefighters.
The city of Greensburg maintains six fire stations, while Latrobe and New Kensington each maintain five, Bertolino said. Hempfield Township has a dozen departments and contributes $15,000 annually to each. Bertolino said several township departments are so undermanned that they have had to consider merging.
Bertolino said some Jeannette businesses contribute money to the fire department and expect full-time coverage to protect their property. The Elliott Co. donated $30,000 toward the purchase of a new aerial ladder truck, he said.
"They rely on us responding with the ladder truck that they paid for," he added.
Other third-class cities in Pennsylvania have struggled over the issue of paid firefighters as they try to avoid or extricate themselves from Act 47, the distressed municipalities law.
Duquesne and Clairton switched to volunteer companies when they were declared financially distressed cities. Duquesne abolished its department in 1995; Clairton followed three years later.
Any change in fire protection likely would affect a municipality's Insurance Service Office rating, which is given to insurers to determine premiums for fire insurance in a community.
Bertolino said Jeannette's fire suppression rating is 5 on a scale of 1 to 10.
The rating takes into account whether the department is professional or volunteer, whether at least four firefighters respond to a structure fire, how much water a department uses, how a department dispatches equipment, the number of firefighters who participate in training, and the extent and types of training they undergo.
Richard Gazarik is a staff writer for Trib Total Media. He can be reached at 724-830-6292 or [email protected].
Copyright 2014 - Tribune-Review, Greensburg, Pa.
