City of Tracy Fire Department reduces service

Tracy will drop from three-man to two-man crews at times, a move that’s expected to save money in overtime costs and avoid any temporary station closures.

But the Tuesday night decision by the board of the Tracy Rural Fire District could mean paramedics are slightly slower in acting to save the life of a heart-attack victim, for example, or that firefighters must wait for help before they enter a burning building.

A budget deficit forced the board’s hand.

“What’s unfortunate is the district doesn’t have money to provide the type of service we would like,” said Tony Perez, head of the Tracy firefighters union.

The district, together with the Tracy Fire Department, makes up the South County Fire Authority, which collects tax money that’s used to pay for firefighters within city limits, in the Tracy countryside and in Mountain House, which subcontracts with Tracy Rural for firefighters.

The district’s budget is about $4.6 million, and it’s looking at a $600,000 deficit this year.

To cut expenses, the board considered two proposals by Chief Chris Bosch.

Under one, the board would vote for rolling “brown-outs,” whereby one of Tracy Rural’s three fire stations would be closed for several hours a time. A decision about which stations to close would have been made after analyzing statistics that show when and where there are few calls.

The board ultimately rejected that idea, though.

Instead, the board decided to change how it uses firefighters at its fire station on Durham Ferry Road southeast of Tracy and its fire station west of town on Schulte Road.

Both stations are manned by three firefighters on each of a day’s three shifts.

In the past, if a firefighter called in sick or was on vacation, the absence would be filled by a firefighter called in from a day off — a move that forced the city to pay overtime for the shift.

That’s no longer the case.

Now, the third firefighter on duty at the Schulte Road station will fill in for someone sick or on vacation. If there’s a second absence that day, a firefighter from Tracy Rural’s Durham Ferry Road station will fill in. Because both are already on the clock, the moves will cost the city no overtime, which reached $1.3 million in fiscal year 2008-09.

Bosch and Perez said the change should mean less overtime costs, but firefighters worry it could also mean greater risk — both to them and to the people the paramedics treat.

Perez said that by law, when there are only two firefighters at a burning building, they must wait for a second fire truck before they go inside.

And when a two-person crew shows up to treat a medical emergency, there’s one less person to administer an IV, open an airway, perform CPR or use a defibrillator if needed.

Perez said firefighters would “get the job done” but could be “slowed down.”

The move is not expected to lengthen the time firefighters take to arrive at either a fire or a medical call, though.

Bosch said the changes voted on this week could save anywhere from $100,000 to $300,000 for the district this year.

“We’ve got to do what we can to balance the budget,” the chief said.

Source: Tracy Press - Link

City of Tracy Fire Department - Link