Deal Between Fire Union, City of St. Paul Reached to Keep Rescue Squad in Service

Three days after St. Paul's mayor said he was axing the fire department's Rescue Squad 2, the city reached an agreement with the firefighters union that will keep the specialty unit in service.

The International Association of Fire Fighters Local 21 signed an agreement with the city Friday, Aug. 10, that will allow the fire department to staff another rescue squad with four people vs. the five called for in the firefighters' contract through the end of 2014.

Local 21 had initially agreed to sign the agreement about reduced staffing through the end of 2013, but Mayor Chris Coleman wrote in a Tuesday letter to Local 21 President Mike Smith that it needed to be through the end of 2014. Coleman said in that letter that Rescue Squad 2 would be decommissioned for budget reasons since they couldn't reach an agreement.

Discussions between the city and the union continued, and they signed the agreement Friday.

"It's an agreement that was best for the citizens of St. Paul," Smith said. "We're not calling it a victory, but it's something we could live with."

The agreement states that a taskforce, of which Local 21 was a part, will be reconvened during preparation for the 2014 budget to review staffing arrangements.

The agreement also says the city will stay in compliance with a federal firefighting staffing grant until Dec. 31, 2014. Smith said that means no firefighters can be laid off during that time because the grant specifies how many firefighters should be on the job.

Rescue Squad 2 is one of three such squads in the city. All three respond to fires and are can handling several tasks there, and they respond to vehicle accidents to extricate people, said St. Paul Fire Marshal Steve Zaccard.

Each squad also has specialty functions. Rescue Squad 2, based at University Avenue and Vandalia Street, is the department's hazardous material team, and has a contract to provide services statewide, Zaccard said. Had it been decommissioned, the department would still have been able to provide hazmat response, he said.

After discussions during the city's budget process last year about cutting Rescue Squad 2, a city taskforce was organized to study the issue. The group met this year and recommended that Rescue Squad 2 stay in service. Engine 13 was browned out to make that possible.

Fire Chief Tim Butler said Friday that he is happy the agreement was signed to keep Rescue Squad 2. It "reinforced what the taskforce worked hard to get to," he said.