Facing the full-time firefighter reality

The Port Washington Fire Department swore in Trevor Potkay as its first full-time firefighter-paramedic Monday, a move that may foreshadow the future of firefighting in the county.

Port is the third area department to hire a full-time person to staff its ambulance, a move that officials say is necessary to ensure the community has coverage around the clock.

The Grafton Fire Department has hired three full-time firefighter-paramedics in the last two years and the Fredonia Fire Department has recently hired its first full-time emergency medical technician to replace two part-time volunteer positions.

“It’s getting harder and harder to get part-time people,” Port Fire Chief Mark Mitchell, the department’s first full-time employee, said, particularly during the day when the need for EMTs and paramedics is most acute. “I think all the departments are faced with the same thing, particularly for their ambulance services. Look at Saukville, Fredonia, Waubeka.

“It’s just the way of the world — everyone’s getting busier.”

Grafton Fire Chief Bill Rice concurred, saying, “Life gets in the way. Not only do mom and dad work, I compete with Boy Scouts, soccer, baseball, football for volunteers.”

It took Port two tries to find its first firefighter-paramedic. The department advertised for the position early this year but received no qualified applicants, but after upping the salary to $50,000 and relaxing the residency requirement found itself with a pool of candidates.

Potkay, who started work Monday, has been a volunteer firefighter-EMT with the Richfield Fire Department for the past five years — a position Mitchell said Potkay hopes to continue — and a part-time firefighter-paramedic in New Berlin for three years.

A Slinger High School graduate, Potkay has been a paramedic since 2018, Mitchell said.

Potkay will work a 24-48 shift, on duty for 24 hours and then off for 48, Mitchell said.

“It gives us the sustainability we need to have a paramedic available every day,” he said, noting part-time, on-call paramedics will be scheduled around Potkay’s schedule.

Last year, the Port Fire Department responded to 1,497 calls, Mitchell said. Of those, 225 were fire calls and 1,272 were ambulance calls.

In the past, Mitchell said, the department was able to cobble together a legion of volunteers to ensure there was always a paramedic on duty. 

“We still have great staffing, but we ended up with holes in the schedule,” he said, adding the department relied in large part on paramedic Mari Beth Barbuch to fill those holes.

But Barbuch is looking to retire in the next year or two, forcing the department to look ahead.

“A career position is a way to guarantee we have the coverage we need,” Mitchell said, adding he hopes to bring in two more full-time firefighter-parademics in the coming year to ensure there will always be a paramedic available during the day, when most people are working.

Rice said the situation in Grafton is largely the same. The department had trouble filling its daytime ambulance schedule with paramedics.

“Everyone’s call volume is going up but the number of volunteers is going down,” he said. “We were really struggling. At times, it was hard to get a paramedic.

“This is what we had to do.”

Like Port, the Grafton department has a full-time chief. However, it also has a full-time fire inspector, Division Chief Matthew Karpinski, who Rice said “does everything. He does training, responds to EMS calls. He fights fires. He’s very active in helping me run the fire department.”

That sort of department, with a combination of volunteer and career firefighters and EMTs is something Rice said is likely the future of firefighting in Ozaukee County.

“I think it’s the only way,” he said. “I think a combination department is eventually going to be what suits Ozaukee best.”

The days of volunteer departments with firefighters and EMTs leaving their jobs mid-day to answer calls are gone, Rice said.

“That’s a Norman Rockwell drawing,” he said. “It’s not anything like it used to be. There will probably always be a couple people like that around, but for the most part that’s just not reality anymore.”

Likewise, Rice said, he sees the day coming when the county goes to regional fire services instead of every community having its own fire and ambulance department.

“I do see a change coming,” he said. “It’s going to be a tough conversation, but it has to be had. It’s going to be expensive and you’re going to have to give up some local control, but I suspect down the road we’re going to have more of a regional department.

“We work closely now. The cooperation is there. It just eventually will need to go to another level.”