Fire Commissioner Harold Hairston has a firestorm on his hands, the likes of which he may not have seen in 40 years of fighting fires in the city.
Yesterday, he unveiled a proposal to eliminate four engine and four ladder companies and add eight medic units while "still providing the public with effective fire protection services."
Hairston's plan was in response to Mayor Street's request last March to cut $7 million to $10 million from the department's budget in the fiscal crisis.
With the $6.77 million in savings from the cutbacks, Hairston promised: No layoffs. No demotions. No firehouses closed. Not so, says Tom O'Drain, head of Local 22 of the firefighters union.
"The immediate impact will be in response times" of firefighters and equipment, especially since 385 firefighters who retired in December won't be replaced.
O'Drain said Hairston's proposal would "jeopardize the safety of the firefighters and the public."
City Council, meantime, has restored $4 million to the department's budget, but Mayor Street doesn't have to spend it.
All of this has gotten City Councilman Frank DiCicco up in arms, because 11 of the firehouses affected are in his councilmanic district.
"I am outraged," said DiCicco, who wrote the commissioner a letter seeking information weeks ago. The data was provided yesterday.
The First Council District, DiCicco says, is the only one to see an increase in population.
He cited the population shift in center city, Old City, Northern Liberties, Fishtown, lower Port Richmond, Society Hill, Bella Vista and Queen Village - known as the city's hottest real estate market.
"Reducing apparatus when there's a population shift? If anything, it should be increasing because of the repopulation," DiCicco said.
Hairston said his proposal takes into consideration a major shift in the public's service demands.
Since 1990, there's been a dramatic 46.8 percent drop in structure fires while the demand for emergency medical services has skyrocketed 80.5 percent, he said.
The same fire data showed that since 2000, the number of structure fires has increased one percent from 2440 in 2000 to 2466 in 2003.
But the number of extra alarm fires - big fires requiring more equipment and firefighters - dropped from 29 in 2000 to 13 last year, or 55 percent decrease in the same four-year period.
In the last four years, the EMS calls rose 10.4 percent between 2000, when there were 176,971 calls, and last year's call volume of 195,504.
Hairston said the additional medic units would decrease the response time for medical runs and result in faster service for the public.
Higher-skilled paramedics would have more time with each patient.
Hairston expected that fewer engine companies would have to respond to medical emergencies as they currently do as "first responders." They would be available to fight fires.
O'Drain said emergency medical services have been undermanned for years. Several times each day, there are no medic units available for medical emergencies, he said.
Adding eight medic units won't reduce the response time when eight other fire vehicles that could respond to emergencies - and fight fires - are being taken out of service, said O'Drain.
Two weeks ago at a union meeting, he said, an officer reported that it took 36 minutes for a medic unit to show up at an auto accident at Torresdale Avenue and Academy Road, where an engine company had first responded.
"By the end of last year, 385 people retired. By closing these companies, we will permanently lose those positions," he added.
Fewer firefighters with fewer pieces of equipment means longer response times," he said. "With later response times, there'll be bigger fires and more damage to life and property."
Hairston said he plans to accomplish the cutbacks by eliminating four ladder and four engine companies.
A ladder company, which consists of a fire vehicle with a ladder staffed by one officer and four firefighters and the Jaws of Lifeextrication device, costs $1.226 million to operate each year.
An engine company, which consists of a fire engine staffed by one officer and three firefighters, costs $995,000 to operate annually.
By eliminating four of each, he said, he could save $8.884 million.
But by adding eight new medic units to the 40-unit EMS fleet at a cost of $263,500 each, he would add a total cost of $2.108 million.
That means the combined savings would be reduced to $6,776,000, he said.
