May 01--HAMILTON -- Nearly a year after Hamilton closed a fire station, shuttered two engine companies and laid off five firefighters, fire officials and residents say they haven't seen a dramatic dip in emergency services.
"Any fire (since the cuts) has been tougher because we don't have the personnel we had," said Brian Ruhl, president of the International Association of Firefighters Local 20. "But we've adapted to the changes to meet our goals."
The volume of fire suppression and emergency medical response runs has remained relatively unchanged, Ruhl said. Since last year's cuts, the department responded to approximately 11,700 calls, which is consistent with the city's numbers since 2011.
Ruhl said the city has responded to almost 3,700 runs so far in 2014, or roughly 35 calls a day, which is "on pace and a good average."
Fire Chief Steve Dawson said the average response time for the entire city has increased by 43 seconds to six minutes and two seconds since the department cuts went into effect last June. However, the area surrounding Station 27 at 925 Shuler Ave. -- the fire station that was closed -- has seen a 51-second increase in response time.
Ruhl said response times have been impacted because the department only has five fire apparatuses (four engines and one tower unit) now instead of seven.
But despite those increases, fire officials said there have been no major problems with the delivery of emergency services.
"We're making it work right now with what we have," Dawson said.
City officials made cuts to the fire department in 2013 to help close a $5.6 million budget deficit that year. The cuts were inspired by a 2012 efficiency study by Berkshire Advisors, Inc., a public safety consulting firm, which recommended the city lay off 18 firefighters and close two firehouses -- Station 27 and Station 26 in Lindenwald.
City officials wound up asking the fire department to lay off six people -- which dropped to five after the former fire chief retired -- and closing Station 27 on Shuler Avenue.
There was a time when firefighter jobs were considered by some governments and taxpayers as sacrosanct, and no matter how bad a municipality's's budget problems got, their ranks were nearly untouchable. But as local governments' budgets have been decimated by the Great Recession and reductions to state funding and the cost of paying a firefighter increased, firefighters have become more vulnerable to cuts.
In addition to Hamilton, Middletown is considering cutting 15 firefighters in mid-August in an effort to reduce the city's general fund expenditures by $2.25 million over the next two to three years. Middletown's city manager estimates it costs the city, on average, about $100,000 per firefighter, including salary and benefits.
The five firefighters in Hamilton who were laid off last year have all gradually been brought back during the past year as the department has seen five of its employees retire or transfer. Two were called back in January and three returned in March, Ruhl said. The department's current complement is 96 staffers.
Ruhl said that morale at the fire department is at a stable point. He said the city has agreed to conduct another firefighter entrance exam, as officials recognize more retirements are pending at the department.
"Ultimately, I'd like to replace our numbers back to where we were," Ruhl said, referring to 114 staffers the department had at its height. "But the department is at a point where we feel like there's some longevity."
While residents voiced their concerns several times over the cuts, so far, few have seen a significant delay in service, at least within Station 27's former jurisdiction.
"It's been fine," said Ron Allen, owner of Allen's Meat Market at 905 Shuler Ave.
Pastor Cecil Day, of the Lighthouse Baptist Church, said that he has lived in the East End neighborhood his whole life, and the couple of times in the past year he has had to call for family members with heart issues, he was impressed with the service.
"They responded within probably four or five minutes," he said.
Ruhl said the fire department reorganized its districts following the closing of Station 27 in order to respond to calls in the same time frame as before the cuts.
"Station 25 (on 335 North Erie Blvd) now covers Station 27 also," Ruhl said.
Dawson explained that because a majority of the fire department is cross-trained as both firefighters and paramedics, the department is still able to respond to calls nearly as quickly as before. The only difference now is that a fire truck may respond to a medical call rather than an ambulance, he said, as fire and medic units are used more interchangeably.
"We carry incubation airway equipment aboard the fire trucks, and we are a fire-based EMS service, so that fire unit can also provide emergency care," he said.
Dawson added that the department would soon be implementing the "Active 911" software system, which would include on-board computers on the fire units and dispatch information, mapping, unit locations, which would increase response efficiency.
According to the Berkshire study, a fourth paramedic unit was meant to reopen in the former Station 27 building. According to Ruhl, the unit is running "sporadically," and the department is using more mutual aid from Fairfield and Hanover townships.
"(The Berkshire Study) felt we needed a fourth medic unit because about 83 percent of our calls were EMS-based," Ruhl said. "But since HFD delivers fire-based EMS, when a fire engine arrives on-scene, more times than not, you get two, three paramedics on the truck."
John Burkhardt, a retired HFD paramedic currently residing in Lindenwald, praised the department's personnel for being dedicated and exceptional, budget cuts notwithstanding.
"Against the odds, we don't have big fires, we're not losing the house next door... and putting a part-time squad in the empty station is going to be a help," Burkhardt said.
Dawson said that while the department has adjusted the response times, receiving the funding to get the fourth medic unit running regularly is highly desired.
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