ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Sunday, July 7, 1996 TAG: 9607080081
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: B-1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: DAN CASEY STAFF WRITER
BIG CHANGES may be in store for the Roanoke Fire Department - including fewer fire stations and personnel. But they're unlikely to happen without a
Last Monday, the first public salvo was fired in what may become a battle over the future of Roanoke's Fire Department.
Charles Hancock, Roanoke's current Citizen of Year and president of the Garden City Civic League, showed up at a City Council meeting and complained that the Fire Department had closed its Garden City station in working-class Southeast on Saturday morning and sent its staff to Fire Station No.4 near upscale Deyerle.
"We were shut down so that No.4 could have more protection," Hancock said. "Are we less important than those folks?''
Some council members were quick to jump in.
"Where's Station 4? ... Oh, out [on Lee Highway]," said Vice Mayor Linda Wyatt. "That says a lot right there."
"That's the fire station that serves the city manager, the city attorney and others who work here," Councilman Jim Trout quipped. "Does that help you?''
The station was closed for three hours, a decision that Fire Chief James Grigsby admitted during the council meeting was less than ideal. Vacation and sick leave by firefighters left both stations short-handed, he said. It was better to put a full complement in one than leave both undermanned.
"Station 4 covers more elderly homes in that area," Grigsby told council. "That's why that decision was made."
But city firefighters say the staffing problem has been exacerbated because Grigsby has frozen hiring in the department, which has three open slots now. In fact, it was a firefighter who called the Garden City Civic League member with the embarrassing information that Fire Station No.11 had been temporarily shut down.
Hold on to your seats, because that brief skirmish is likely to be the first of many in a potential downsizing struggle pitting the city administration against its most powerful and popular employee union.
On one side is Grigsby, who in less than a year on a job has developed reams of data that seem to suggest the Fire Department is overstaffed, overbuilt, inefficient and too costly. Meanwhile, six of its 14 fire stations are more than 65 years old.
Working with a team of more than 40 city employees, the chief believes he can maintain the city's level of fire protection and create a more "holistic" department while saving taxpayers up to $800,000 a year.
That's equal to more than 2 cents on the real estate tax rate. That amount could also make the annual payments on $8 million worth of school or other construction projects without a tax increase.
A reorganized department "would be comparable to other cities and the fire protection we now have, but much more cost-effective," Grigsby said in an interview last week. "That system will reduce fire losses for the city, protect citizens' lives, and protect the tax base. I'm telling you, neighbor, this program is going to increase your safety."
But the team's preliminary recommendations, which have not yet made their way to City Manager Bob Herbert or council, may ultimately leave the city with four fewer fire stations and 20 fewer personnel in fire suppression and lifesaving - a 7 percent cut in manpower. Those issues, the chief admits, may be very "emotional."
On the other side is the Roanoke Firefighters Association, which has more than 240 members who have worked their way into Roanoke's political and social fabric.
They say it's impossible to cut personnel by that much without jeopardizing fire protection in the city.
Quietly, union members have been lobbying City Council members and neighborhood leaders about the potential changes. Councilman Carroll Swain, for example, said one firefighter visited for 21/2 hours in his home recently, and he's had phone calls from worried residents that lasted up to an hour.
In the middle are residents, who have watched as a rash of fires - some deliberately set - consumed a historic church, the city's first black-owned health clinic and a number of vacant structures in the inner city's poorest neighborhoods in the past 18 months.
During a spree of 13 suspicious blazes last year, fire officials admitted that their resources were strained. And in January, the city suffered its worst fire in at least 27 years, when four children and their grandmother died after an electrical fire at a rental house that apparently had no smoke detectors.
"A smaller fire department would be of great concern," Hancock said, adding that he expects the issue to arise at a meeting of the Presidents' Council of neighborhood leaders. "It might affect the effectiveness of fire suppression and the Emergency Medical Services protection."
With all that said, there are suggestions that the Fire Department doesn't give taxpayers the greatest bang for their buck.
For instance, a study Lynchburg performed last year of fire departments in 12 Virginia cities and Greensboro, N.C., shows that:
nFires stations in Roanoke, on average, serve fewer people than any other city surveyed, suggesting that Roanoke has too many stations. Here, there are 5,706 people per fire station, compared with 8,256 per station in Lynchburg, 11,915 in Greensboro, 14,625 in Salem and 21,250 in Newport News. The group average was 11,959 people per station.
nWith 2.95 firefighters per 1,000 residents, Roanoke has more firefighters per capita than any other city surveyed. Salem, the lowest, has just more than one firefighter per 1,000 people. Arlington has 1.29; Alexandria, 1.51; Bristol, 2.32; and Lynchburg, 2.58.
nEach of Roanoke's engine companies averaged 372 runs in 1992, the second lowest of the group. Only Bristol, with 332, was lower. By contrast, engine companies in Chesapeake averaged 731 calls that year; Lynchburg, 1,013; Salem, 1,212; Alexandria, 1,527; and Fairfax, 2,540. Roanoke Firefighters Association President Richard Sarver said calls have increased 30 percent in Roanoke since engine companies began responding to medical calls.
The city is conducting its own study, comparing the Roanoke Fire Department with 12 fire departments in the state and region, but the results are not yet available.
"Don't misinterpret this that we're not a good department and that we don't have outstanding people. We are, and we do," Grigsby said. "But there's another dimension to it, and it's cost-effectiveness."
Grigsby says his goal in a reorganized department is to create a fire service that emphasizes fire prevention and education. That would include classroom instruction for schoolchildren and regular fire inspections by on-duty firefighters. Currently, most inspections are done by fire marshals, and the city has only a handful.
Probably the most controversial moves under consideration would include reducing the number of stations and personnel in the department.
The city, the chief notes, currently has 14 fire stations, one for about every three square miles of territory. That's more than double the number called for by insurance industry standards, which require at least one station for every 7 square miles.
That means that, theoretically, the city could cut its number of stations in half without affecting fire insurance rates. Grigsby says he doubts the department would scale back to fewer than 10 stations.
Employee teams are considering merging six current fire stations into three newer and larger ones. Under that scenario, Fire Stations No.3 and No.5, No.4 and No.7, and No.9 and No.12 would be closed, and three new larger stations in nearby locations would take their place. The fate of Fire Station No.1 downtown is unclear, he said.
Each new stations would have at least double the complement of firefighters and equipment. In addition, three ambulance squads the city now operates at separate facilities would merge into the new facilities.
The reduction in personnel would be made possible by giving firefighter training to 31 emergency medical technicians who now work in the Fire Department, which last year merged with Emergency Medical Services.
Right now there are 228 Fire Department personnel devoted to putting out fires. After 31 paramedics receive fire training, the city will have 259 fully trained firefighters. By merging some stations and rescue squads and adding new equipment, the total complement could theoretically be cut to about 239 without jeopardizing insurance ratings.
That would leave the city with 20 fewer total firefighter/lifesaving personnel, but a net increase in the number of trained firefighters.
"Part of the reason the city has so many now is the number of stations and the equipment you have there," Grigsby said.
Employee teams are also considering the purchase of at least two dual-purpose fire vehicles known as "Quints," a combination ladder truck and fire engine. The city has never mixed the functions before.
The firefighters, however, have their own data.
"Other localities have found Quints to be expensive and not cost-effective due to high maintenance, repairs, and their size - they're big and bulky and have trouble in some areas," noted Richard Sarver, the firefighters association president.
While Roanoke firefighters' numbers are down slightly in recent years, the department has added duties, such as a Hazardous Materials Team; fire protection at Roanoke Regional Airport; and responding to medical calls, said Mike Hanks, secretary-treasurer of the organization.
Fewer personnel may mean more injuries.
"In Altoona, Pa., a 19 percent reduction in the fire force meant a 120 percent increase in injuries," Hanks said. "This will also translate into increases in property damage and lives lost. The Roanoke Firefighters Association does not now or ... in the future find these losses acceptable."
The firefighters also are still fuming over a study the city performed a few years back that called for hiring 49 more fire suppression personnel. The city has shelved that report and has never publicly released it. Grigsby said its "methodology was so flawed it's unbelievable."
It's too early to tell how all this will play out. The arguments on both sides are just beginning to make their way to Roanoke's seven-member City Council.
Three members - Wyatt, Trout and Nelson Harris - received strong support from firefighters in May's election.
Stay tuned.
LENGTH: Long : 173 lines ILLUSTRATION: GRAPHIC: Map by staff: Possible Roanoke fire station mergers.by CNB