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Memphis Plans to Cut Over 100 Firefighters in Three Years
AMOS MAKI
The Commercial Appeal
Fire Director Alvin Benson told City Council members Monday that he didn't believe proposed reductions of 111 from the ranks of the city's firefighting personnel would impact public safety.
"Response times will not change. The coverage is still there," Benson said.
The attrition strategy proposed by Memphis Fire Department leadership would reduce the ranks over a three-year period.
Benson said the reduction plan, to begin in the fiscal year that begins July 1, was a response to several studies that claimed the Fire Department has too many employees .
A 2007 efficiency study by Houston-based Deloitte Consulting LLP in partnership with Berkshire Associates said the Fire Department appeared to have significantly more employees than cities of comparable sizes.
Mayor A C Wharton's Strategic Business Model Assessment Committee, using information from the 2007 report, recently said Wharton should look for savings in Fire Department staffing and operations.
Benson's proposal would reduce the number of ladder trucks the department has from 27 to 21 over a three-year period. At the end of the three-year plan the city would have six fewer ladder trucks and 111 fewer personnel.
"It affects every rank throughout the department," Benson said.
The plan would also reduce the number of pumper trucks the city has by six.
The city would replace the six pumper trucks and six ladder trucks, 12 vehicles total, with six vehicles called quintuple combination pumpers, or quints. Quints are designed to act as ladder trucks and pumper trucks.
The city is currently divided into 14 geographical areas called battalions, which include the city's 57 fire stations. After the three-year plan, the city would have 11 battalions and 57 fire stations.
The cuts would save the city roughly $20 million over three years, and $9 million a year after the third year.
"We do not agree with any of the reductions," said Larry Anthony, president of International Association of Fire Fighters Local 1784.
Anthony said if a quint vehicle was the first to respond to a fire, it would have half the staff of pumper and ladder trucks, and that the quint team would likely have to call for help.
"You're not going to get the same service," said Anthony.
Council member Joe Brown also criticized the plan.
"We're walking on thin ice," said Brown. "When you fall through the ice you're going to need the Fire Department."
The council's budget committee approved the Fire Department's $153.4 million budget. Council members Shea Flinn, Kemp Conrad and Bill Boyd voted to approve the budget. Brown voted against approval, and council member Jim Strickland abstained. The full 12-member council must still approve the budget.
Copyright 2011 The Commercial Appeal, Inc.
May 3, 2011
Replies to This Discussion
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Permalink Reply by John Crabbe on
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"Response times will not change. The coverage is still there," Benson said.
I really love such a meaningless, arbitrary comment, as though response times alone are a sole indicator of safety.
There are many depts that may have a duty officer respond in a command vehicle and get to the scene in a couple minutes, but yet they have absolutely nothing as far as resources to mitigate the emergency.
Hey your house is on fire....well we had a rig on scene in 4 minutes, but couldn't get and engine or firefighters there who could do anything for 10.....we could have saved the house had we had proper staffing....but hey.....response times were not affected.
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Permalink Reply by Andrew on
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I second that, John. You cannot cut man power and state that the new, lesser amount will be equal in strength. It just doesn't add up correctly.
Where I live they cut special commands within the police department, or at least started to diminish them. One of the commands effected was a marine section that would patrol on boat and land, answering calls accordingly.
Two weeks into the cuts there was an emergency that left some (I cannot remember the number) dead - carbon monoxide overdoses. By the time emergency personnel got there it was too late. Many people argued that if the previos officers had been there that the deaths of these civilians may have been averted.
Cutting emergency personnel in ANY branch is a terrible idea, especially with fires burning hotter than before, crime running rampant, and medical emergencies occurring at an exorbitantly high volume.
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Permalink Reply by Mark Oomkes on
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Fire Director Alvin Benson told City Council members Monday that he didn't believe proposed reductions of 111 from the ranks of the city's firefighting personnel would impact public safety.
Why is someone this ignorant in the position he is?
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Cutting emergency personnel in ANY branch is a terrible idea, especially with fires burning hotter than before, crime running rampant, and medical emergencies occurring at an exorbitantly high volume.
The problem is Andrew, the Fire Director.
He is telling them that nothing will suffer. How do you even combat that kind of ignorance, when it is right at the top?
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