Sustainable Fire Protection
Introduction
Fire protection is a vital core service, and is often a city's second highest budget item (behind police protection). As budget crises deepen, more city managers and politicians are looking to trim fire department costs. Since personnel costs make up the lion's share of fire department operating expenses, that means staff reductions.
At the same time, fire departments are faced with the continuing reduction in the number of fire calls. In an era when medical calls outnumber fire calls by 3:1, civilians question the need for large pumpers, ladder trucks and the firefighters who man them. The problem is this. While the frequency of fire calls is relatively low and getting lower, fires will still occur that threaten to grow into conflagrations. When they do occur, the only effective way to stop them is with a rapid response of multiple apparatus and firefighters.
I believe that many fire departments can resolve this dilemma without layoffs and closed stations, but it requires that they adopt new staffing models.
Traditional fire department staffing
The traditional way of staffing fire departments is effective, but effectiveness comes at a cost. The staffing model, which has not changed since the 19th century, calls for enough fire stations to allow pumpers to reach fire scenes in a few minutes. Most stations have a minimum of one pumper, staffed by firefighters who are on standby around the clock. Many stations also house ladder trucks and other special equipment, with crews of firefighters for each apparatus.
Networks of stations with 24/7 staffing make fire department response very reliable, but several factors make them more expensive than non-public safety services. For one thing, fire suppression is labor-intensive. The National Fire Protection Association's (NFPA) Standard 1710, the nationally recognized standard for fire department operations, states that at least 14 firefighters are needed to suppress a house fire. That number can double in urban cities, where homes are closer together.
Meeting that standard requires a dense network of stations and several firefighters per apparatus. Per NFPA 1710, the minimum staffing for pumpers is four firefighters and five on ladder trucks. Thus, a response to a house fire would require two pumpers, one ladder truck and one chief officer. The standard also sets maximum travel times. The first apparatus must arrive within in a four minute travel time, with the remaining apparatus arriving two minutes after that.
Another cost factor is the need to fill positions when firefighters are on vacation or ill. As firefighters gain seniority and accrue more vacation time, filling empty positions requires more personnel or higher overtime costs.
Pension costs are a third factor. Firefighters retire at age 50-55, much younger than non-public safety personnel. As a result, adequately staffed fire departments have heavier pension burdens.
The next section describes how fire departments with career firefighters can reduce personnel costs without cutting the level of fire protection. A later section will show how the model can work for volunteer and combination fire departments.
A sustainable staffing model
Several US fire departments that are on or near college campuses staff their apparatus with a mix of career firefighters and college student/firefighters. The University of Alaska Fairbanks Fire Department is one example.
The fire department protects the UA Fairbanks campus and surrounding off-campus areas with two stations. It staffs the stations with 11 career personnel and 40 student/firefighters. The firefighters work 24-hour shifts followed by 48 hours off duty. The student/firefighters are enrolled as full-time students and must carry at least 12 credits per semester. When absent from duty for classes, they arrange for off-duty student/firefighters to fill in.
The fire department pays the student/firefighters hourly wages and gives them free housing. The pay is much less than career firefighter wages, but enough to pay their college expenses. Since most of the time on each 24-hour duty shift is spent on standby, student/firefighters have adequate time to study. Career firefighters fill the leadership positions, so the student/firefighters always work under the supervision of experienced personnel.
When student/firefighters graduate from college, the department replaces them with incoming students. Each spring, candidates undergo a physical fitness test and interviews to determine their suitability for the job. The selected candidates spend two months during the summer break training as firefighters and emergency medical technicians (EMT's). They are then assigned to shifts and begin work in the fall semester.
This staffing model allows the fire department to provide the same (or higher) level of service as non-college fire departments, while greatly reducing salaries and pension burden.
Fire departments need not be on or adjacent to college campuses in order to implement similar staffing models. They can do so by creating public service internship programs.
Public service internships - the basic concept
Fire department public service internship programs would select qualified college-bound students to serve four years as full-time firefighters. In return, the interns would receive free college educations. Preliminary comparisons of career firefighter compensation and intern college expenses show that fire departments could support an intern for one half to one fourth the cost of a career firefighter. In addition to lowering salary costs, the interns would not add to fire department pension burdens.
In regions with one or more colleges nearby, interns would attend classes and serve as firefighters at the same time. They would be free to attend any college within a reasonable commute that offers competitive tuition rates. This greatly increases the pool of candidates. For example, the Minneapolis-St. Paul (MN) metropolitan area has ten colleges and universities within a one-hour commute of dozens of career, combination and volunteer fire departments. That number should yield a substantial pool of intern candidates for several fire departments.
At the end of their service, interns would have college degrees and no education debt. They would also be experienced firefighters, an advantage should they decide to pursue fire service careers
Internship costs
Data on the average cost of college educations and firefighter salaries show that fire departments can support multiple interns for the cost of one firefighter. The median starting salary (including benefits) for firefighters in the US is $60,000.00 ($48,000.00 salary plus 35 percent in benefits). The median annual cost to attend a public college (including tuition and dorm fees) is $12,000.00. Assuming a cost of $3,000.00 per intern for initial training, those costs would support a ratio of up to four interns per one career firefighter.
For interns, the fully-burdened cost estimate includes housing, meals, transportation and living expenses. Fire departments that provide them with free housing could further reduce the fully-burdened cost of internships.
Intern recruitment and selection
The methods for recruitment, training and intern selection will vary by region. In one suggested model, the fire department (or consortiums of fire departments) would begin recruiting college-bound high school Seniors and currently enrolled college students in the spring of each year. The first phase would include recruiting and testing candidates who have been accepted at (or attending) local public colleges within a pre-determined commuting distance. Successful recruits would spend the summer months training to the Firefighter II and EMT certification levels. At the beginning of the school year, successful candidates would be assigned to duty shifts.
Another recruitment/training model would focus on high school students, and would select interns in the following steps:
- Invite high school students to an orientation meeting and describe the program's objectives, benefits and requirements. The meeting would be open to Freshmen through Senior year students.
- Invite interested students to participate in the department's physical fitness test. By testing students from all grades, potential interns who do not pass the physical fitness test will learn what deficiencies they need to improve on in order to make cut in their Senior year. The test will also help potential candidates decide if such a physically demanding job suits them.
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Sign up qualified students to attend evening classes on Firefighter I and EMT during the fall and winter school terms. The extra-curricular training will yield several benefits. For one thing, those who decide that the public service internships are not for them will drop out over time. For another, the fire department trainers can evaluate student progress and suitability for the job.
- For Senior year students who have passed the firefighter and EMT training/testing, and who have been accepted into a college approved by the department, continue the selection process with interviews and psychological evaluations.
One benefit of this recruitment/training method is that students who are not in the Senior class can decide early on if they have the interest, dedication and ability to perform this public service in return for a college degree. It also gives them time to improve their physical ability.
On duty days, interns would be given time off to attend classes, and then return to work for the remainder of their shifts. Fire departments would have the option of leaving the positions open during their absence or paying off-duty interns to fill the positions. For example, one college fire department pays off-duty student/firefighters $10.00 per hour to fill in for on-duty student /firefighters who are attending classes. On weekends and semester breaks, the interns would be available for their entire 24 hour shifts.
Interns for volunteer departments
With some exceptions, volunteer fire stations are not staffed 24/7. Instead of being on standby at stations like career firefighters, volunteer firefighters carry pagers and respond to their stations from home or work.
Many volunteer fire departments have too few members available during daytime hours. The solutions are limited and daunting. Jurisdictions that are accustomed to the low costs of volunteers will likely chafe at the budget increases needed to hire full-time firefighters. For example, hiring enough firefighters to staff one apparatus with four personnel on a 24/7 basis costs an average of $900,000.00 per year. However, they could staff with interns for much lower costs. Besides the cost advantage, internship programs would solve a management problem created when departments mix volunteers with career firefighters. On many "combination" departments, ownership issues threaten to divide volunteers and full-time firefighters. This would not be a problem with interns because they would work under the supervision of the volunteer officers.
Internship success factors
For internship programs to succeed, city leaders would need to address several core factors.
Interns will be full-time temporary employees, and will be expected to perform at the same level as career firefighters. Cities have many options for adjusting their existing firefighter selection processes to select qualified interns.
Firefighting is not a typical public service program. The dangers and stresses of the job call for individuals who understand what is expected of them, can live in a paramilitary environment, and are motivated to support their fellow firefighters to the nth degree. In my experience, a thorough interview process and psychological assessment can identify candidates who have the right motives for becoming firefighters.
Fire chiefs who hire college student firefighters cite turnover as a potential problem for internship programs. Some applicants see the student/firefighter position as a stepping stone. Once they receive their firefighter training, they are apt to search for full-time firefighter jobs and drop out of college once they secure a job.
Fire departments can do several things to increase retention. First, a thorough interview process will help to identify a candidate's motivation for applying. Second, fire departments can set reimbursement policies for interns who leave before completing their commitment. For example, leaving during the first year could require a 100 percent reimbursement of training and tuition expenses. A sliding scale could apply to drop-outs during the rest of the four-year term,
Leadership will be a critical factor in a program's success. In order to remain in the program, interns will be required to perform their fire department duties, maintain passing grades and steadily advance toward graduation. Fire departments will need one or more officers to mentor the interns, monitor their progress and be their advocate to the other department members.
Internship programs will need a continual supply of recruits to replace interns who complete their public service. Fire departments that operate high school fire cadet programs would have a pool of candidates who have gained knowledge about the job, and have practiced the skills needed to pass the internship entry tests.