City may close another firehouse–NJ.com
Wednesday, April 30th, 2008City may close another firehouse
3 Trenton fire companies were shut down in 2002
Wednesday, April 30, 2008
BY KEVIN SHEA
TRENTON — Fire department union leaders are bracing for the possible closing of a fire company, a move they say has been floated by the city administration looking to trim money from the budget.
If it’s carried out, leaders warn, it will endanger citizens and firefighters.
Battalion Chief William Paradiso, president of the superior officers union, said Acting Fire Director Henry Gliottone gave a grim financial outlook at a fire department staff meeting Monday.
The closing of a company, and reducing the number of “riding” battalion chiefs from eight to four is also an option, Paradiso said. (At any time, two battalion chiefs are on duty to direct firefighting efforts at active fires and other emergencies, and the city has four working shifts.)
For a department that saw three fire company closings in 2002, Paradiso said, it would further deplete a force already operating on the edge of minimum levels if they had two simultaneous working fires — a situation that occurs often.
“It would be making the city of Trenton completely unprotected. They’d be making it unsafe for the city and fire department,” he said.
“It’s not just us, it’s the citizens that will be unsafe.”
Paradiso and Wayne Wolk, president of the firefighters union, say, for example, that Trenton serves Mercer and Bucks (Pa.) counties with hazardous materials and specialized rescue services, which could suffer, or if continued, would leave the city with less coverage with one more company vacant.
The fire department has other minimum manpower levels at fire scenes, mandated by federal guidelines, that they need to comply with, both men said.
“Every battalion chief knows we can barely perform our fire suppression duties right now,” Wolk said.
Moreover, the fire department has been training and planning since last year to start a first responder program, and to do more fire inspections in the city. “If they want us to do these extra things, how can they cut us?” Paradiso said.
Wolk said the department, from his own number crunching, is the only city department operating within its budget. The fiscal year 2008 fire department budget is $21.9 million.
Gliottone declined to discuss what was said in the staff meeting, but said all city department heads are looking for ways to tighten their belts. He too said the department is operating “pretty efficiently” and he’s working on a proposal to send back to the city offering what “fat” he can trim.
“Any firehouse closure would hurt services, but I haven’t heard anything official,” Gliottone said. “There’s nothing that’s etched in stone, and we’re not the only ones going through this financial crunch.”
Paradiso and Wolk say they have ideas to trim the fat.
Paradiso wants the department to aggressively enforce sick leave, which is rampant among some firefighters, and Wolk said the city should hire the roughly 16 to 18 firefighters currently needed, which would bring down overtime.
The 16 to 18 is roughly the amount of personnel assigned a company, and Wolk fears that’s where the city got the idea to close one.
“The city has to make a choice,” Wolk said. “They city can’t complain about firefighters’ overtime because were not full staffed. Hire the (firefighters) and OT will go down.”
“I don’t think they’re looking into this,” Paradiso said of the city administration, which he said for years has had too much control over firefighting decisions.
City spokesman Kent Ashworth echoed Glittone’s comments, saying any city budget cuts will be looked at citywide, not targeting the fire department.