3/6/1997 FINANCE COMMITTEE Minutes

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Mr. watt questioned when mutual aid comes in_ Fire Chief Baker noted that if no one is in the station, mutual aid will cone in. Mutual aid is obtained when no resources are available, meaning no one is in the station. Additionally,mutual aid is called when thee are not enough resources to fight a fire to meet the National Standard of Safety for Firefighters. The National Standard ofSafety for Firefighters recommends twelve firefighters to respond to a fire. He noted he calls one person back for every three firefighters off-duty. If he still does not have enough firefighters, mutual aid comes in. There was also discussion on the ambulance calls and how many paramedics and/or E.M.T.'s are assigned --FY 1998 Reguest Fire Chief Baker stated that he is proposing the following for the FY 1988: • Proposed addition of a Fire Inspector. • Increase to four person recall. This number would meet the National Standard for i Staffing on an engine. 0 Purchase additional rescue tool equipment. He noted that his Level Service Budget does not include these items. --Executive Secretary's Recommendations Fire Chief Baker commented on the recommendations of the Executive Secretary. He noted that if the Fire Department is funded as printed,they will be forced to go back to recall on commitment. we will not be able to staff`the station until we know the firefighters are committed when they go out on their calls. The Station may go with no staff for extended time periods daily. Mrs. Goulart questioned the Fire Chief on the schedule of the Firefighters. Fire Chief Baker informed the Finance Committee on the following schedule: We work two 10 hour days, two 14-hour nights,four days off We have an arbitration award in which the schedule is going to change. With this we will be working 24 Hours on, 24/lours off, 24 hours on,four and one-half days off. For budget purposes, hours remain the sane. There will be a savings because there i less shift changes. Fire Chief baker commented that the Recall Line(Line 107)is the only line he is opposing of Mr. whritenour's budget. He noted that Mr. Vhritenour proposes approximately S77,000 in the budget and the Fire Department needs$88,000 to continue doing business as usual—to continue staffing the station. There was discussion concerning using ambulance receipts to cover recall. Fire Chief Baker explained the amount.of Fire Calls and the amount of EMS calls. He noted that 40 to 0%of their expenses are EMS and 50 to 0%of their expenses are fire related. He stated that there are more EMS calls; however, the Fire calls take considerable more resources. The Fire calls are longer in duration and take more people. Fire Chief Baker submitted a report to the Finance Committee documenting the Total Responses for the Ma tepee Fire and Rescue from 1986 through 1996(Report attached to minutes).