Cheney's public safety needs - Part 2

CHENEY – Like law enforcement, the city’s Fire Department is looking at adding much needed staff in 2020. Part of that has to do with reducing overtime and maintaining firefighter safety through not only extra bodies but also training.

At the Nov. 12 City Council meeting, Fire Chief Tom Jenkins proposed two new positions as part of the department’s $2.095 million budget request. One would be a “floater” to help with shift rotations while another, if money is available, would focus specifically on training.

“We need to have a well-trained, well-equipped but also well-rested work force that is prepared to respond to any events that are to come throughout their period (of work),” Jenkins said.

So far in 2019, the department is ahead of its calls for service from all of 2018; responding to over 1,540 calls in 2019, compared to 1,508 last year. National safety standards require a minimum staffing level of four firefighters so that if two firefighters are inside fighting a fire, two others area outside as backups.

The department has struggled with this in the past, such as in August 2017 when a Cheney crew arrived at a fire at the Washington Square Apartments on 1st Street but was not able to enter to assist residents possibly still inside one of the units. That task fell to Eastern Washington University police officers, who helped a second-floor female resident to safety.

Since coming to the department soon after the Washington Square fire, Jenkins has arranged daily staffing levels so that the “2 in/2 out” requirement is met at least 80 percent of the time on nights and weekends, but only 20 percent of the time Monday – Friday. The problem with the latter has been the department’s supply of part-paid volunteers, who often have day jobs that prohibit them from serving a shift at the fire station. It’s something other area fire departments relying on volunteers suffer from as well.

Rather than ask for another body in 2020, Jenkins said he also was exploring how to be more creative with shifts and staffing, noting he can also serve in the firefighting function as long as he has the appropriate gear with him.

“It allows us to be a bit more flexible when life happens,” Jenkins said. “We can be a little bit more agile with our manning, and we can start to fill the holes.”

Jenkins said he and other chief officers would step up and fill shifts, but also proposed using a new “floater” officer position as well. Jenkins said this is a concept often found in larger fire agencies.

“But running the numbers, the number of hours a floater would have to work well exceeds the number of hours we pay in overtime,” Jenkins said.

Overtime wouldn’t be completely eliminated, he added, but it could be “significantly reduced.” With the floater, it’s conceivable the department would be able to meet the 2 in/2 out requirement 90 percent of the time with all shifts.

Jenkins said training will always be a “key emphasis” for the department, and pointed to not only several exercises that took place for firefighters in 2019 but also firefighter-initiated efforts for the public, such as the “Stop the Bleed” CPR training for over 1,100 students at Cheney High School in September. If funding is available, he said he would advocate for bringing on a full-time training chief to help the department with these efforts, particularly for firefighters and emergency medical technicians, who require over 300 hours of training annually.

As with law enforcement, paying for more firefighters will come from the city’s levy lid lift revenue. Voters approved the lid lift in November 2015, with promises from the City Council that if they did so, the extra revenue would only be used to fund public safety.

That money now accounts for 23 percent of general fund revenue. The general fund is a common fund made up of a number of revenue sources including property taxes, sales and use taxes and other fees that pays for government functions such as administration, finance and parks and recreation.

Since the first collection in 2016, lid lift revenue has ranged from $383,000 to $466,700 in 2019 and has paid for things such as additional officers and a new main attack fire engine. In 2020, that revenue is projected to be $501,000.

Finance Director Cindy Niemeier told the council there is money in the general fund from the levy lid lift to pay for additional public safety personnel.

John McCallum can be reached at jmac@cheneyfreepress.com.