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Personnel
The most significant portion of any fire service budget is personnel. Most municipal fire agencies expend 70% to 80% of their funds on personnel related expenses. The District expended that 62% of the 2003 – 2004 budget on personnel cost. During the 2006 -2007 fiscal year we project committing approximately 69% of the operating revenue to these expenditures. This represents a 7% increase over last year’s budget. It will be the goal of the District to add suppression personnel while remaining competitive in the job market.
The District staffs a two-person medic unit and a two-person engine company 24 hours per day. Only the engine is supported with District funds. The ambulance, Medic 48, is funded through a county service area. Therefore, the District staffs one two-person engine for a population of approximately 24,000 in an area of 93 square miles. The remaining line suppression effort is accomplished using volunteer firefighters, working out of our five stations. Call volume has risen to 2050 requests for service per year. This represents a 4% increase in service related activity within the last six months. The increasing call volume correlates to approximately 2 hours each day that our engine is unavailable for calls. The District personnel, detailed to Medic 48, are unavailable to the community 51% of the time due to that unit’s obligation to surrounding communities.
As call volume increases, it is increasingly difficult to efficiently serve our citizens with a single staffed engine. A high priority has been placed on adding an additional staffed engine. The District will staff Station 46 with career personnel in March 2007. As a tactic to meeting this goal the District has added additional Firefighter/Paramedic positions. This has allowed personnel to acclimate to their leadership roles, recruit and develop additional volunteers and assist the organization in adjusting to having more career staff. This will provide the community with an important increase in service levels. Community Facilities District, it is possible that the District could add personnel on an incremental basis, as a multi year project. The addition of three line personnel, will allow the District to staff a three-person engine company. Studies have shown that a three-person engine company is far more efficient than a two-person engine company for almost any given fire ground evolution. The first few minutes are critical during emergency operations and additional personnel on the scene during that time would prove beneficial. The District has initiated efforts to add additional personnel, adding the first of the additional firefighters necessary staff a three-person company. Utilization of a three-person company would only be considered an interim measure to adding a second staffed company.
Using Medic 48 for fire suppression is problematic. The medic unit is, by necessity, out of the District and not available for District coverage 51% of the day. If the District chooses to add Firefighter/Paramedics to the engine(s), it will allow the District to maintain advanced life support (ALS) service more of the time. However, the volatility and financial instability of the Joint Powers Authority (JPA) has become a serious management issue for the District. Given the recent reduction in ambulance service to the community, e.g. shut down of Medic 49 and the financial short falls of the JPA the District must assess their options of delivery of ambulance service outside of the JPA. The Board of Directors established a financial benchmark in relation to the JPA in 1999. The District is concerned that, given the implementation of budget caps by the JPA, that the District may be forced to subsidize the JPA ambulance operations.
The District Board asserts that it was a priority to provide ALS staffing and/or a three-person engine 24 hours a day. They further assert that the eventual goal of this process is the addition of a second engine company. As a result, the employee group has negotiated a rotational schedule of personnel off of the medic unit and has, in concept agreed to maintain the two-person minimum-staffing schedule.
The District maintains on call supervisory coverage 365 days a week 24 hours a day. We feel it is essential that to have duty officer in the District at all times. The addition of a second staffed career engine in El Dorado will make this more difficult for the existing chief officers. If it is to be the stated goal of the District to continue the expansion of our volunteer programs, staff a suppression resource in the Missouri Flat area and expand our emergency medical operations, we must include that incremental addition of clerical and battalion level officers.
The backbone of our organization is our volunteer fire suppression personnel. Simply put, we cannot accomplish our mission without active, committed Volunteer Firefighters. Historically, our Volunteer Firefighters have only held the rank of Firefighter. The reason for this is to maintain an efficient chain of command. This situation does not leave the Volunteer Firefighter with any promotional opportunity or recognized career goal. Comments from the volunteer group and career staff have suggested that some form of advancement opportunity would help maintain strong interest in the fire service. The District has established an additional volunteer career position of Engineer. Volunteer Firefighters meeting a criteria established by the District are eligible for promotion to this rank. The Engineer qualification program is ready to implement. Additionally, the District is considering broadening the weekend training shifts and developing a promotional track for fire officer for volunteers.
