Firehouse staffing plan is a sign of the times

Port Washington Fire Chief Mark Mitchell this week proposed a new system for paying part-time paramedics and emergency medical technicians that he hopes will help fill shifts during the daytime hours.

It’s yet another example of how the model of a volunteer small-town fire department is evolving.

“I’m calling it a nationwide epidemic,” Mitchell said of the lack of volunteers today. “Everybody’s in the same boat.”

A report by the National Fire Protection Association released this year said there’s been a 16% reduction in the number of volunteer firefighters and EMTs over the past two years, putting stress on volunteer departments. 

The plan presented by Mitchell and Fire Capt. Joe DeBoer, which was endorsed Monday by the Police and Fire Commission, would pay part-time firefighter/EMTs and firefighter/paramedics to be in the fire station during specific shifts, unlike the current system where they are paid while on calls.

“It’s just a different way of staffing with part-time people,” Mitchell told the Police and Fire Commission on Monday. ‘It’s reliable staffing at peak times.”

It’s especially important because the city isn’t funding a full-time firefighter/paramedic position requested for next year, he said.

The paid-on-premises system is used effectively by other area departments, including the Grafton and Mequon fire departments, Mitchell said.

“We’re still seeing holes on our schedule pretty consistently,” Mitchell said.

This won’t replace the need for two more full-time firefighter/paramedics, he said, noting those positions will ensure the department has coverage 24/7.

Nor will it eliminate the need for the department’s current volunteers, who cover night and weekend shifts, he said.

But it will help ensure there are enough ambulance crew members available throughout the day, Mitchell said, noting the department frequently has to page people twice to take the ambulance out.

The biggest problem is on weekdays, when most of the department’s paid on call volunteers are at work, DeBoer, a paramedic, told the commission.

That’s also when a large number of the department’s calls come in, DeBoer said.

“The days are gone when you’re going to find a banker who’s willing to leave work and respond to a call,” he said.

The paid-on-premises plan would allow the department to hire crew members who would be at the station from 6 a.m. to 6 p.m. Mondays through Fridays, DeBoer said.

When they aren’t responding to calls, he said, they would do other chores, such as fire inspections, public educations, resupplying the ambulances, station maintenance and vehicle readiness checks. 

“They wouldn’t be sitting around, loafing,” DeBoer said.

Many of those who sign up for the paid-on-premises positions are career firefighters who can help train and mentor others, DeBoer said, or college students seeking part-time employment who might continue with the department after they get their degree.

“It’s amazing the culture it builds,” DeBoer said, adding it is also an effective recruitment tool.

“Why would anyone want to do that?” Commission Chairman Rick Nelson asked.

For many professional firefighters, the chance to take part in paramedic intercepts, where an EMT has performed the basic tasks, freeing the paramedic to do more intensive interventions, is an attraction, Mitchell said.

Having these people at the department instead of responding from home has numerous advantages, most importantly the fact it would cut response times, DeBoer said.

Currently, the department’s response time is five to six minutes, he said. Having someone at the station could potentially drop that to two minutes.

“That’s a huge selling point, if we can be there 65% faster,” he said.

Stroke patients, for example, lose as many as 1.9 million brain cells every minute they go untreated, he said, and the probability of survival for people having a heart attack decreases 1% to 10% every minute they go without CPR and defibrillation.

The proposed pay scale varies by the person’s expertise, from $11 an hour for EMTs to $16 for firefighter/paramedics.

The increased cost to the department is minimal, DeBoer said, estimating the annual cost of covering one weekday shift with  a paid-on-call paramedic would be $46,000 vs. $50,000 for a paid-on-premises firefighter/paramedic.

That works out to $1.22 an hour, he said.

Commission members were excited about the benefits of the program.

“I think it’s great,” member Patty Ruth said.

Commission member Jennifer Clearwater said, “Having the extra person and the better response time alone is worth it.”