HOW MANY CHIEFS DOES YOUR DEPT. HAVE? WHERE ARE YOUR DEPT. PRIORITIES?

I'M NOT SURE WHERE MY QUESTION BEST FITS, BUT HERE IT GOES ANYWAY. HOW MANY CHIEFS DOES YOUR DEPARTMENT HAVE IN RELATION TO FF'S, STATIONS, CALL VOLUME, AREA COVERED, POPULATION? HERE'S OUR SITUATION, WE RUN 1500 CALLS A YEAR, OUT OF 2 STATIONS COVERING AN AREA ABOUT 110 SQ. MILES WITH ABOUT 13,000 RESIDENTS. WE HAVE 2 FIRST OUT ENGINES, 1 LADDER, 2 TANKERS, 2 BRUSH TRUCKS, AND 2 MED UNITS ALL COVERED BY 9 ON DUTY PERSONNEL. OUR MINIMUM STAFFING IS 6 (3 AT EACH STATION). DO THE MATH, WE ARE GROSSLY UNDERSTAFFED. HERE'S THE KICKER, WE HAVE 7 CHIEFS,(4 ARE ADMINISTRATIVE, AND 3 ARE DUTY CHIEFS) AND A SECRATERY TO RUN THIS RELATIVELY SMALL OPERATION. I FORGOT TO MENTION WE HAVE A VERY SMALL BUDGET AT 2.1 MILLION PER YEAR. THERE ARE A LOT OF DAYS THAT WE HAVE A LOT MORE CHIEFS THAN FF'S ON DUTY THERE MUST BE A HELL OF ALOT OF PAPERWORK TO DO.WE JUST SEEM TO BE VERY TOP HEAVY AND ARE BATTLING WITH MANAGEMENT ON STAFFING AND WAGE ISSUES WITH NOT MUCH LUCK. ANYWAY I KNOW THIS IS ALOT OF INFO GIVEN, BUT PLEASE I'D LIKE TO HEAR ABOUT YOUR SITUATIONS AND WHAT YOU THINK. I'D ALSO LIKE TO HEAR FROM A FEW CHIEF OFFICERS AS WELL.

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Permalink Reply by anne potter on October 18, 2008 at 10:23pm

Chief one ,chief2 ,chief 3.. Safety officer... we have about 25 members.. 2 engines,1 tanker,one rescue.... budget $16,000 a year..

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Permalink Reply by DAN MELTON on October 19, 2008 at 11:03am

No, it is actually the number of people and their jobs, compared to surrounding departments we have many more chiefs than others. We routinely run at a minimum staffing of 3 which means if the ambulance is out there's only one person on the pumper to run the next call. Yet there's 4 chiefs in the office doing "paperwork". We don't work real well with each other, they hold themselves at a higher level than us, they've forgotten where they come from!

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Permalink Reply by DAN MELTON on October 19, 2008 at 11:06am

I should clarify a little, our budget is small compared to surrounding departments and districts. Yet we have as many if not more chiefs than they do.

HOW MANY CHIEFS DOES YOUR DEPT. HAVE? WHERE ARE YOUR DEPT. PRIORITIES?

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