ANTHONY CORMIER
Sarasota Herald Tribune


SARASOTA COUNTY - Sarasota County fire officials reduced the number of firefighters on engine and ladder trucks this month to save money and stave off possible job cuts.

The move is being criticized by union leaders, who say that having only two firefighters, instead of three, on the trucks jeopardizes public safety and runs counter to national standards.

But Chief Ken Ellerbe says the reductions at fire stations at Palmer Ranch, Stickney Point Road and Fourth Street are temporary but necessary -- especially as the department faces a $4 million budget shortfall by 2014.

Ellerbe, in an interview Tuesday, acknowledged that more firefighters per truck increases their effectiveness. But he said the decision is a way to cut overtime costs, saving about $350,000 so far this year, instead of cutting staff.

"I want to do whatever we can to stave off rate increases or tax increases for residents," Ellerbe said. "And, if we can save money now instead of having to lay people off in the future, we need to try that."

The reductions affect three firehouses and began in this month. Ellerbe says that he is pulling personnel from those stations and placing them in spots left open when firefighters call in sick or go on vacation.

In the past, vacation and sick hours were filled by off-duty workers who were paid overtime.

Union leaders say they are willing to sacrifice in other areas -- remaining in trailers, for instance, instead of renovating older stations -- but that cutting positions on trucks threatens the safety of the public and firefighters themselves.

An April study by the U.S. Department of Commerce, for example, shows that three-person crews were quicker to respond to a fire scene and were more effective at dousing the flames or rescuing victims.

"There has to be an alternative," said Merv Kennell, president of the Suncoast Professional Firefighters and Paramedics union. "And we're willing to explore that."

Moreover, the union's attorney says the move to reduce personnel goes against a recent push by the county to increase fire-rescue services by adding jobs and fire stations.

In 2005, the county realized its services had not kept up with a population boom, so officials unveiled an "emergency catch-up" plan to add at least six stations and put three-person crews on many of its trucks. The stations were built and the crews were in place, says Gainesville-based lawyer James Brantley, but the recent reductions suggest that the county is backtracking on those plans.

"Whether the chief puts a 'temporary' label on it or not is irrelevant," Brantley said. "Our worry is that they are not going to continue with that plan of increasing services. We want to know, are we going backward?"

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July 21, 2010