A New York mayor is in a dispute with his city's firefighters union over the possible permanent elimination of the department responding to emergency medical calls.
Watertown Mayor Jeff Smith is considering a proposal that would take one of the fire department's rescue units off the road, WWNY-TV reports. Under a potential resolution, which could be introduced as early as next week, Guilfoyle Ambulance Service medics would respond to EMS calls on their own without being accompanied by the firefighters.
“There is not a need for them to continually respond to EMS calls when they don’t have the level of care or support to give that Guilfoyle does,” Smith told WWNY.
The fire department could still be called on if the ambulance service needed help on calls, the mayor added. But such a move would still present a risk to the community, according to both the firefighters union and the ambulance service.
“The idea of this plan is detrimental to public safety as it pushes us many years back instead of forward," Guilfoyle Ambulance said in a statement. "The fire department has been a tremendous help to our operation.”
A potential resolution comes after an appeals court ruled last month that the city can no longer temporarily promote firefighters to acting captain positions unless there is an actual emergency. The city has been using this "out of title" practice since 2016, but the court determined it violates civil service law.
By taking the rescue unit out of service, the city would save 250,000 that could be put toward a new apparatus and possibly eliminate minimum staffing concerns, Smith said. But the benefit isn't enough when weighed against the potential safety issues, according to the union.
“This should scare the average citizen of Watertown because this is a reduction in services that honestly cost the city next to nothing,” Dan Daugherty, the president of the firefighters union, told WWNY.
In April, city lawmakers agreed to limit the types of emergency medical calls firefighters went out on in response to the COVID-19 pandemic.
