Sept. 25--CEDAR FALLS, IA-- A retired assistant Cedar Falls fire chief says the city should take some of the money it's saved up for a new public safety building to hire more career firefighters.
"Public safety officers are not the answer," Bill Bell said in remarks delivered to the City Council over the past couple of meetings. Time limits prevented him from delivering his full remarks during those meetings, but he provided a copy to The Courier.
Bell's comments are concurrent with a letter from spouses and significant others of Cedar Falls firefighters, submitted by retired Cedar Falls Fire Capt. Sharon Regenold and appearing on the opinion page of today's Courier.
"The full-time fire department is severely understaffed, and the Public Safety Officer cross-training program is not adequately preparing public safety officers for medical and fire emergencies ... This puts everyone in danger -- firefighters, PSOs and citizens," firefighter spouses wrote, adding they're concerned about "the citizens of a growing community whose fire department isn't growing proportionally."
Regenold, recently retired, said she submitted the letter on behalf of the spouses "due to the potential ramifications of speaking out."
In response, Cedar Falls Public Safety Director Jeff Olson said, by using a combination of career firefighters, cross-trained public safety officers and paid on-call city staff, the city is able to bring more firefighters to a fire scene than before, and sooner.
Bell noted city officials have stated they have been able to save enough money from operations to pay for an $11 million public safety building without a referendum. "If the city has been able to save that kind of money why wasn't some of it used to keep fire protection up to national standards?" he asked. "PSO (public safety officer) is not the answer... PSO's are like putting a Band-aid on a broken arm."
Bell, 81, served as assistant fire chief under late longtime Fire Chief Dale Holmes prior to Holmes' retirement in the mid-1980s. He was a finalist to succeed Holmes but opposed the creation of a public safety department at that time in a city government reorganization by then-Mayor Doug Sharp.
Bell said the city had 38 full-time firefighters at that time and has 27 now, while the city has grown significantly to the south and west since then. However, in a recent presentation to the City Council, Olson noted that adding the number of full-time firefighters with public safety officers in place or being hired, and paid on-call staff, the city has a total firefighting force of 52, which meets or is close to the number of recommended in the standards Bell cited in his presentation to the council.
Consequently, Olson said, "We've recently had more firefighters responding to scenes ... We've made a lot of changes recently. I think we're very, very safe and probably better than we were" just a few years ago.
Olson also noted the firefighters themselves are training the public safety officers. A training book has been prepared and "they have to be checked off in all those areas before they begin operating as a PSO," Olson said.
Olson and Fire Chief John Bostwick also noted public safety officers typically can arrive at the scene quicker than an engine company, assess the severity of the fire, locate hydrants and other valuable work before a fire truck arrives. Some also are equipped with compressed air foam units in their police vehicles to suppress or control some smaller fires.
Bell maintained full-time career firefighters are needed.
"Additional compensation, minimum fire education, fire protection clothing don't make a fireman," Bell said "A fireman is made by working every duty day with the same men forming a team, educated by a certified training officer" on a daily basis.
Fire staffing has been a recurring political issue in Cedar Falls for several years. Bell also said the Lone Tree Road fire station in the north part of the city, utilized now only during emergencies like the September 2016 flood, should be reopened permanently, and the city should return to separate police and fire departments.
"The people who are paying the taxes are not getting the protection they're paying for," Bell said.
In their letter, firefighter spouses said Cedar Falls regularly relies on Waterloo, Janesville and other smaller communities to support them because of inadequate staffing. Olson and Bostwick noted that happens in fires in rural areas where water has to be hauled to a fire scene when hydrants aren't available.
"This is what we've been doing for 40 years and all of a sudden it's the PSOs' fault? It's not logical," Olson said.
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