NY Firefighters Paid OT to Exclusively Answer Medical Calls

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TROY, NY—The city is paying four firefighters overtime to work exclusively on answering medical calls in order to reduce other firefighters' exposure to the coronavirus.

The firefighters, who have taken on additional 12-hour shifts, are the only ones running the Medic 1 and Medic 2 ambulances, which are operating out of the Bouton Road Fire Station at Bouton Road and 15th Street adjacent to the Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute campus. Unless a medical situation is of a significant size, only the ambulances are responding, not the fire engines.

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“It seems to be working. They’re doing a fantastic job. Everybody in the fire department is taking this very seriously,” said Fire Chief Eric McMahon.

City officials are in bi-partisan agreement that they’re willing to swallow the $5,000 in estimated overtime expenses, which amount to $35,000 weekly during the pandemic.  In a government where overtime is constantly scrutinized, officials said it’s worth the cost to protect residents and the firefighters from COVID-19 exposure and infection.

“It makes good sense. It’s not only limiting the exposure to the firefighters but to the public,” said City Council President Carmella Mantello, a Republican.

“It’s needed for public safety,” said Councilwoman Eileen McDermott, a Democrat who chairs the Public Safety Committee.

The city is entering its third week of the expanded overtime ambulance service.  It’s scheduled to run through April 18 at this point, or about four weeks with a total overtime cost of about $140,000.  The city spent $1.03 million in 2019 on fire department overtime, according to a report made to the City Council at its April meeting.

John Salka, a spokesman for Mayor Patrick Madden, said the city is hoping the cost can be reimbursed under pandemic aid from the federal government.

The Albany and Schenectady fire departments do not provide the ambulance transport service that the Troy Fire Department does.  The two other cities rely on Mohawk Ambulance Services to move patients to hospitals for treatment.  The Albany and Schenectady departments, like Troy, provide emergency medical treatment at the scene.

By stationing the two ambulances at Bouton Road, Troy is avoiding the problems of cross contamination if an ambulance was stationed with a fire engine in the normal situation, McMahon said.  The fire department has also been able to save on the use of personal protective equipment by going to the temporary system.

“They’re covering the whole city from that firehouse,” said Firefighter Eric Wisher, president of the Uniformed Firefighters Association, which represents most of the city’s firefighters.

“It’s a lot of work,” said Wisher, who has been working the 12-hour overtime shifts.

The city has a third ambulance to call on based at its Central Station on Sixth Avenue, if the two dedicated ambulances are both out, Wisher said.

The fire department has been able to respond to fire calls and ambulance calls with no issues since starting this system, McMahon said.

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