CINCINNATI --
Cincinnati's Fire Department is bracing for a decisive December. Under sharp questioning from several City Council members Monday, the interim chief Mike Kroeger got a taste of what next month might be like.
Asked to provide a basis for why he feels company brownouts have hurt response time on fire and medical runs this year, Kroeger couldn't supply one.
"That's not good enough," Democrat Laure Quinlivan told him.
Fellow Democrat, Wendell Young, skeptical of the procedure to send an engine company on medical runs, wondered if it might be more cost-effective to have more ambulances and fewer trucks.
Vice Mayor Roxanne Qualls noted that there were three firefighters to a truck up until 1998. Since then, the standard has been four to a truck.
"We need four on every company." Kroeger told lawmakers. But, they came away unconvinced.
The presentation of the fire department budget sets the stage for decisions by the City Council about possible layoffs and closing fire companies.
The city manager told the department weeks ago to cut roughly $10 million from its 2011 budget. That's on top of the $5 million in reductions the department has already made.
Among those listening with more than passing interest was Kevin Flynn. Mostly confined to a wheelchair as the result of a car crash nine years ago, Flynn credits quick response and superior training for saving his life.
The Mt. Airy attorney recalled how he suffered a broken neck and had to be cut from the wreckage by Engine 20 out of Northside.
"If they had just moved me improperly, if they hadn't been able to get me out of the vehicle, I don't think I'd be here today," Flynn told WLWT.
Flynn acknowledged a deep, personal connection to firefighters as a result of the rescue, but insists that the connection does not drive his thinking about protecting the level of response times.
"That is what's critical to the city," Flynn said. "None of the rest of what we do as a city... is going to matter if people aren't safe and they don't feel safe."
Council members heard today that the fire department's staffing has grown by 5 percent in the past 20 years while the department's budget has swelled by 87 percent during the same period.
At a time when the city faces a $60 million budget shortfall that must be balanced by New Year's Eve, the basic question of how many firefighters the city needs is being asked. There are currently 819.
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