By Fousia Abdullahi
Fort Worth Star-Telegram
GRAPEVINE, Texas — The Grapevine firefighter union continues to put pressure on the city to abandon its plan to reorganize the fire department.
In a statement on Thursday, the Grapevine Professional Firefighters Association said it disagrees with the city using a consultant’s study from 2021 to make the decision to close Engine 1 to reallocate resources for a new ambulance.
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The city plans to reorganize personnel by summer to add an ambulance and replace Engine 1 with a two-person squad, which is specialized unit used for high-risk fire rescue operations that also has the ability to provide EMS care. The union says the Fitch & Associates study is outdated and does not reflect current data showing emergency demand has increased by at least 20%.
“Despite this increase in demand, the city is proposing to permanently close Engine 1 — an all-hazards, paramedic staffed apparatus — reducing response capability in one of the city’s busiest districts,” the union statement said.
Since the study, the union said, total emergency calls have increased by 19.8%, and EMS services by 13.1%.
“Nearly half of this growth involved non-EMS emergencies, fires, rescues, hazardous materials incidents and other major vehicle accidents,” statement said.
A spokesperson said the union asked the International Association of Fire Fighters for an operational study based on Grapevine’s GIS data and emergency services response capabilities. The study, dated March 2023, was provided to the Star-Telegram .
The report found that staffing fell below the National Fire Protection Association’s industry standard because the stations were staffed with three firefighters, not four.
The spokesperson told the Star-Telegram that having three firefighters is not uncommon in the area.
The study also found that in certain parts of the city, response times to fire calls, emergency medical operations and other incidents fell below industry standards.
It also contained short- and long-term recommendations. For the short-term, the report suggested increasing personnel, adding a medic unit with two firefighter paramedics at Station 4 at all times. Station 4 already has a fire apparatus; by adding the medic unit, it would be fully staffed to service that district and its surrounding area.
Long-term recommendations included adding a new fire station at the intersection of William D. Tate Avenue and West Nash Street with at least four firefighters. This would shorten the response time across all the district stations.
The spokesperson said that getting a new fire station is very unlikely.
The union said it supports adding a fourth ambulance, but that should not come at the cost of reducing fire suppression capabilities in District 1 which serves multiple schools, commuter rail service, the historic downtown area, a major trauma hospital and major highway corridors.
“A two-person squad is not equivalent to a staffed engine company during a fire response,” the union said.
The spokesperson for the union told the Star-Telegram that the main difference between the two-person squad the city wants to replace Engine 1 with is that it doesn’t move water, whereas a fire engine is an all hazards response vehicle.
“A squad is a support apparatus that can support every type of emergency, but it is not a standalone type piece of equipment for those types of incidents.” the spokesperson said.
The union said it supports and stands by its fire administration, and they know the fire chief has been requesting staffing increases from the city for years along with another Mobile Intensive Care Unit, which would have both fire and EMS staff.
“It’s been met with resistance,” the spokesperson said. “So, what he’s forced with now is a reallocation, which is robbing Peter to pay Paul rather than doing the appropriate thing which is just to adequately staff an additional MICU without augmenting any personnel to support that.”
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