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Fire chief says staff cuts won't hurt services
(by Sue Reid - December 09, 2009)
Fire chief says staff cuts won't hurt services
By SUE REID
A reduction in staff at the Solon Fire Department, which was put in place recently in an effort to cut costs, does not mean a lack of services to residents, Chief William J. Shaw said. "We still have the resources to handle the calls."
The reduction, which took effect Nov. 23, brought the daily minimum staffing number of firefighters at the three stations from 13 to 12, Mr. Shaw said. That number was as high as 14 as recently as 2005.
"It's a cost-control measure," he said. "With the projected shortfalls and desire to balance the budget next year, we need to cut our cost."
In conjunction with the city administration, the fire department is looking at its budget and the need to maintain it, Mr. Shaw said. "It appeared we were going to go over budget."
For the fire department, that meant cutting back personnel, which represents over 90 percent of its $6.3 million budget. "Personnel is 90 percent or more of our cost," Mr. Shaw said. "That's where we need to look to realize the savings we need to achieve."
The 12 firefighters will be spread among the three fire stations in the city, with four being staffed at each station 24 hours a day.
"It's not that we're laying anyone off," Mr. Shaw said of the 60-member department, which is all full time. "It's just that, if a firefighter calls in sick or takes time off, we won't be filling that vacancy as often as we used to. Once again, we've been challenged by some injuries that occurred off duty with our members, so our overtime is a little higher than we'd like."
To offset the cutbacks, the department has begun to capitalize on technology, Mr. Shaw said. That includes the use of computers in three of the departments' ambulances to reduce turnaround time. Paramedics are able to fill out their reports on-line, which can then be accessed by doctors and hospital staff, Mr. Shaw said.
"This is done to improve upon turnaround time, which is how fast it takes the paramedics to pick up a patient, get them to hospital and then get back to station for the next call," Mr. Shaw said. "That turnaround time is reducing as paramedics get more comfortable with the system."
Another area where technology has been enhanced is in the use of the video conferencing system, which allows firefighters to remain in quarters while receiving the necessary training they require. The system has been installed at all three stations, Mr. Shaw said, and is up and running.
He said firefighters should be fully trained on it this week. "This will help keep firefighters in quarters and more available for calls," he said.
Mr. Shaw said data is in the process of being collected to see what the effect of the staff reduction is.
"Obviously, the less people we have, eventually there will come to a point where we are not providing the same service as before. Are things the same as before? No, because, obviously, we have one or two less people than normal, but we can still handle the calls."
Mr. Shaw said that, when the staffing was reduced from 14 to 13 in 2006, he looked at mutual-aid requests, and those did not increase. "Now going to 12, we'll continue to watch those numbers to see if 12 is sufficient."
Mr. Shaw said the difficulty in relying on mutual aid to fill those gaps is that surrounding communities are facing some of the same issues as Solon. "They've had to cut back on their resources and their own staffing," he said. "For their own cities, their resources are being stretched as well.
"We all need to keep a close eye to ensure we are providing an acceptable level of service," Mr. Shaw said of the surrounding communities' departments.
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