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City Council approved the changes proposed by Fire Chief Grant Love (seen here last week) on Monday, including switching to a dynamic staffing system, reducing platoon size and extending response time. PHOTO BY LIAM BERTI
Despite the burning questions around the proposed cost-cutting changes to the Fire Department, City Council approved a list of recommendations put forward by Fire Chief Grant Love on Monday.
Chief among those changes are reducing the minimum staffing levels, cutting platoon size and extending call response time citywide, with hopes of achieving just over $250,000 in savings.
On the most basic level, the two platoons that currently operate with 19 members would be trimmed to 18, matching the other two platoons that already run with 18 through attrition.
Additionally, the minimum staffing levels will be reduced to 13, down from 16 in an attempt to better manage overtime costs.
But it also requires the department to alter their staffing based on the number and type of calls they are responding to, identifying the risks in the community, and managing their resources around those variables.
“This is a big step in the process,” said Community Services chairman Mark King. “What it boils down to is council is now giving management inside the fire department the opportunity to manage their staff.
“But we need to make it perfectly clear: there is no job loss here whatsoever,” he added.
According to their data, the service has seen a 63 per cent reduction in fire call responses since 2004, the bulk of which are a result of less calls to forested and open land.
Structure fire calls, on the other hand, remain fairly consistent at 30-40 calls per year.
Those numbers, along with more specific data, will help them establish their new strategies and resource levels, something the department has been looking at since 2013.
“Adopting this approach will require continual review and monitoring of call volumes and types as well as continual assessment of risks within the community,” reads the report submitted to City Council last week.
For more on the original recommendations, click here: http://goo.gl/DaXnj8
The report also states that the Fire Department has chosen a seven-minute response time as a reasonable benchmark for North Bay’s needs, up from six minutes.
“It has become obvious for any of the council who actually read the whole report, we are watching fire suppression change in this city and it becomes quite obvious that changes are required,” said King.
Overall, King commended the Fire Department for their efforts and thanked them for taking action and finding alternative approaches in providing their services.
“As we watch the budget for 2015 move forward, you can see the difficulties that we now face with respect to wage increases, staffing levels and the like,” King said on Monday. “But I think we are turning a corner here now as this city actually takes the time to evaluate how it does provide service to people.”
Coun. Tanya Vrebosch, who was absent for the recent discussions with the Fire Chief, raised concern for increased efforts in prevention if the service levels are being changed.
“It’s a balance; if we are going to have a change in suppression, we need to balance it with the fire prevention side, so I look forward to seeing what we are going to do with fire prevention,” she said. “Prevention is always cheaper than reaction.”
Chief Love is already in the midst of reporting back to council about hiring a new prevention officer and specialized training officer. The preliminary proposal suggested the two reduced platoon positions fill those roles, but council asked for more clarification before approving that move.
With 18 service members eligible for retirement within the next five years, Love said there needs to be an increased effort in practical training for the younger staff.
Vrebosch also tabled a successful last minute amendment that requires the Fire Chief to report to council every two months with an up-to-date analysis on how the changes are impacting the service.
Discussion with some senior members of the department indicates that many of the firefighters are already concerned about the new changes.
Speaking under anonymity, one of the staff members said there seems to be the collective internal opinion that the staffing level changes pose some serious risks on the fireground.
@BertiLiam
