Group: Add staffers to firetrucks

A national group wants four firefighters on every truck, a potential problem for budgets and liability.

By MAUREEN BYRNE

© St. Petersburg Times, published April 20, 2001

A proposal by a national fire association to require four firefighters on every firetruck could mean an increase in taxes if local fire agencies adopt the controversial measure.

The National Fire Protection Association, a leading source of technical background, data, and advice on fire protection and prevention, is recommendeding four-person staffing of fire apparatus and a minimum standard of five minutes or less for response times.

About half of Pinellas County's 20 fire departments staff their engines with three persons. Other agencies strive to have four firefighters on a truck, but vacation and sick days often mean only three will ride.

"I think it's a good goal to reach, but how much are the taxpayers willing to spend?" said Largo fire Chief Caroll Williams.

The proposal, called NFPA 1710, has generated much debate among the country's fire departments. Supporters say it is long overdue and will help bring fire service up to date. Critics claim it creates a one-size-fits-all mandate on local governments and takes decisionmaking away from individual agencies.

Although fire departments are not required to adopt NFPA's professional standards, most agencies do. If the proposed standard is approved by its members next month at the NFPA's annual conference in Anaheim, Calif., it has a very good chance of being made an official standard at the organization's Standards Council meeting in July in San Francisco.

If it is, and if the 20 fire departments in Pinellas County adopt the standard, it could cost $16.5-million a year, said Dwaine Booth, the county's assistant director of emergency medical services and fire administration.

And that only counts personnel costs, Booth said. In order to meet the five-minute response time, new stations may have to be built.

"It's going to be very expensive generally to fire service, but there has been really no definitive data to show that any more property and any more lives will be saved," Booth said. "We basically feel that it is an unfunded mandate that could in effect bankrupt fire agencies across the country."

Even if fire agencies don't adopt the standard, it could still be costly because of the potential for liability.

"It does impact the fire departments because once these standards are established, it places liability on them if they don't meet those standards," said Williams, a member of the association who will vote against NFPA 1710.

So far, Seminole Fire and Rescue has adopted all of NFPAs standards.

But the city doesn't like this one.

Like Williams, Seminole fire Chief Dan Graves will attend the NFPA World Fire Safety Congress in Anaheim to vote against the proposition.

"It just smacks of taking away from the local area of the ability to provide the level of service desired by the community," Graves said.

The Seminole Professional Fire Fighters Association has not taken an official position on the proposed standard, but its members do support the measure, said union president Rick Koda. The union's main concern though is improving response times. Its average time is 4 minutes and 35 seconds.

"That's what we believe Seminole needs to take a look at," Koda said. "Fire calls aren't what's killing people. It's the medical calls and the traffic accidents."

While the International Association of Fire Chiefs and the International Association of Fire Fighters support the proposal, the National League of Cities and the International City/County Management Association oppose it.

So does St. Petersburg fire Chief Jim Callahan. "The potential is there for this to have a huge impact on every city," he said. "The unfunded mandate is what I have a problem with."

Callahan said he believes his department provides excellent service to the community. "But it's going to be hard to deliver that level of service without something changing," he said.

Randy Hinder, deputy fire chief for Clearwater Fire Rescue, says the city hasn't told him how to vote on NFPA 1710. He too will be flying to California for the annual conference.

"It's still being evaluated," he said. "There really hasn't been a consensus decision."

- Reach staff writer Maureen Byrne at 445-4163 or at byrne@sptimes.com.

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