A longstanding labor dispute between D.C. Fire and EMS and the International Association of Firefighters (IAFF) has heated up, with Lori Moore-Merrell of the IAFF calling the department the “worst performing” metropolitan system in the country and a series of embarrassing and tragic incidents involving lengthy response times bringing increasing scrutiny to the beleaguered department.
In 2011, D.C. Fire Chief Kenneth Ellerbe proposed changing firefighters’ work schedules from 24-hour to 12-hour shifts to cut overtime costs. Earlier this year, he also proposed a schedule change that would put more units on duty between the hours of 7 a.m. and 11 p.m. but would leave the District without any ALS ambulances between 1 a.m. and 7 a.m. (According to D.C. Fire and EMS spokesman Timothy Wilson, there would still be paramedics on fire trucks during those times.)
The union, IAFF Local 36, was sharply critical of both proposals. If the shift change was implemented, it would be “devastating” to firefighters, union president Edward Smith was quoted in the Washington Post as saying. Union leaders have also said that having no ALS ambulances on duty during overnight hours would endanger the public.
This spring, the war of words heated up after a series of incidents raised troubling questions about the state of the department. On March 5, because no D.C. ambulances were available, an ambulance from Prince George’s County, Md., responded to a D.C. police officer who had been struck in a hit-and-run. Later that month, the union handed Ellerbe a vote of no confidence. By a vote of 300 to 37, IAFF Local 36 chastised the chief for a two-year record of failed leadership, according to news reports.
The department’s troubles didn’t end there. In August, an ambulance that was supposed to travel with President Obama’s motorcade ran out of gas at the White House because of a broken fuel gauge. Shortly after came news reports of two ambulances catching fire, one in a hospital parking lot and the other while responding to a call.
Finally, in August, the Associated Press released an investigative report that found D.C. Fire and EMS has less than half the number of paramedics on duty at any given time compared to cities with similar call volume and staffing models.That report, along with a litany of problems with other aspects of staffing, deployment, response times, management and vehicle maintenance, led Moore-Merrell, assistant to the general president of the IAFF, to call D.C. Fire and EMS the “worst performing” metropolitan fire and EMS system in the country. “Their availability, their capability to respond and their operational performance are all deficient,” Moore-Merrell told Best Practices. “Unfortunately, leadership there is not making a substantial effort to fix it.”
Even the Washington Post, which has been steadfastly supportive of the chief’s efforts to alter staffing and deployments, seemed to waiver. In an Aug. 25 editorial, the Post wrote: “The recent mishaps by the District’s Department of Fire and Emergency Medical Services would be hilarious if lives weren’t on the line.”
This summer, the city council rejected the chief’s deployment proposal; the shift change proposal is in arbitration. The city and the fire union are currently negotiating a new collective bargaining agreement. The last contract expired in 2007, and firefighters have been working under the previous contract since then, spokesman Wilson says.
“There has been a significant amount of resistance to change,” Wilson says. “Chief Ellerbe is trying to align the staffing with the peak call volume … but it disrupts which has been previously a workflow pattern. He understands that. But the priority is how we better serve our residents and the people who visit D.C. while they are up, active and engaged.”
On Aug. 27, Ellerbe announced the hiring of 69 people, including 29 fire cadets, 31 fire recruits and nine paramedics, along with 30 new ambulances. Ellerbe was able to hire single-role paramedics because the city allowed him to bypass a rule that required the medics to be cross-trained as firefighters.
“The department over the years has had some issues that have been publicized. We realize there were some challenges in terms of our fleet and finding and staffing paramedics,” Wilson says. “At this point we believe we are turning the corner to ensure that the department gets more paramedics and the ambulance and apparatus fleet are maintained properly.”
The department is working to improve training for mechanics and maintenance staff, hiring a fleet manager and enhancing the monitoring of fleet condition, Wilson adds.
According to the AP report, the District of Columbia answered 130,000 calls in 2011 (the most recent data available), with 35 paramedics average on duty at any given time. By comparison: Read Chief Ellerbe’s shift change proposal here.
