By Lou Ponsi
The Orange County Register
BREA, Calif. — The city is temporarily reducing staffing on paramedic engines in the fire department as a cost-saving measure.
Paramedic engines that respond to advanced life support (ALS) calls will do so with three firefighters per engine, down from four, city officials said. The department will compensate by sending two paramedic engines to ALS calls with six firefighters instead of one engine with four. The department receives an average of 10 calls per day.
The new staffing model, which began last week, was recommended by Fire Chief Al Nero and was approved by the City Council. It is expected to save $75,000 over the next eight weeks in unbudgeted overtime costs, City Manager Tim O’Donnell said.
The on-duty staffing, which includes four captains, five fire engineers, four firefighters and one battalion chief, will likely be in place through late November, when the city expects to hire 11 apprentice firefighters to bring staffing to full strength, O’Donnell said.
Apprentice firefighters are usually the fourth person on an engine in Brea, but with the current shortage of apprentice firefighters in the department, full time fire personnel have been filling in while amassing up to $2,000 overtime.
“The fire chief (Al Nero), myself and my staff would never do anything to jeopardize public safety,” O’Donnell said. “The only people in the department who are opposed are those who are affected by the loss of overtime.”
Brea Fire Association President Dan Gibson disagrees, and said that staffing an engine with three firefighters, not four, is below standards throughout the county. Gibson, who serves as captain in the department, also said the staffing reduction lowers the number of on-duty fire personnel to a level not seen in Brea since 1992.
“No matter how you slice it, when you cut staff, you have reduced service,” Gibson said.
Even though they would be dispatched at the same time, having two ALS units respond to calls could be detrimental, Gibson said.
If one of the responding units is coming from a previous call, it could arrive late, he said.
Also, said Gibson, calls for accidents on the freeway require three engines. If another call came in while three engines were on the freeway scene, it could be handled, but if a third call came in, an outside agency would need to respond.
“The thing about emergencies, you never know what you are going to have,” he said.
O’Donnell said using outside agencies to assist on calls in Brea has been standard practice in the past and doesn’t jeopardize safety.
The staffing reduction also creates new guidelines for dispatchers on whether to send ALS units on all calls.
Fire department personnel will be distributing flyers to residents announcing the temporary reductions, Gibson said.
“This is not a smear campaign,” he said. “We just want people to know that services are being cut for a period of time.”
Said O’Donnell, “The union is trying to make it a safety issue and I totally understand that. But this (reduction) is not a safety issue. It’s a budget issue. We have to manage our resources and have an obligation to provide a variety of services to all people.”
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