Full-Time Position Added at FL Fire Station
By Sam Howard
Source The Palm Beach Post, Fla.
JUPITER, FL—There soon will be an additional first responder fielding 9-1-1 calls in Jupiter.
Town council members voted 4-0 on Tuesday to add a full-time equivalent position to Palm Beach County Fire Rescue's Station 18, located at Burt Reynolds Park. The decision was not a response to the coronavirus pandemic, but instead a continuation of efforts in recent years to increase staffing at the town's fire stations, Finance Director Mike Villella said last week.
"It's something that the Palm Beach County Fire Rescue has requested so that they can provide a higher level of service on fire rescue calls," he said.
Palm Beach County has handled fire rescue in Jupiter since 1997. There currently are 19 fire rescue personnel working in Jupiter, according to a town document.
The proposal increases Station 18's two-person rescue unit by an extra position. The other two stations in Jupiter — near the corner of Indiantown Road and Central Boulevard and north of the Frederick Small Road-Military Trail intersection — have three-person advanced life support units, which treat the most critical patients, according to a town document.
Assuming the new staffing level kicks in next month, Jupiter estimates it'll cost an extra $167,349 through the rest of the current fiscal year, which ends in September, according to the town.
That works to be an additional $412,716 annually, according to the town. It'll be paid with money taxed from the Jupiter municipal service taxing unit, distinct from the millage the town assesses each year.
Over the entirety of the current fiscal year, that the proposal would've cost the average Jupiter household $5-$6 in additional taxes, Villella told council members Tuesday.
"It should not have a significant impact on any individual homeowner," he said.
The station will be particularly critical in the next few years, as it's tasked with covering an area that extends north of the Loxahatchee River.
Normally, the quickest way to get across the river from Burt Reynolds Park is using the U.S. 1 bridge. But the Florida Department of Transportation expects to close the span for about 20 months starting in 2022 while it builds a new bridge.
Jupiter's three stations responded to about 7,400 calls in fiscal year 2019, Villella said.
Some 5,400 of those were classified as medical calls. The stations' average response time has hovered around 6 minutes and 30 seconds each of the past five years, he added.
Members of Jupiter's Town Council didn't specifically invoke first responders' role in addressing the ongoing pandemic, but Councilman Ron Delaney called the decision a "no-brainer."
He highlighted the fact that a third paramedic will be able to pile into a vehicle with two others on calls. Right now, according to the town, a third paramedic is dispatched in a separate vehicle.
Councilman Cameron May, a Palm Beach County Fire Rescue firefighter/paramedic in the area around Palm Springs and West Palm Beach, abstained from voting and discussion.
"The benefits of this additional personnel ... can't be undervalued," Councilman Ilan Kaufer said.
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