City fire chief sounds alarm

Aug. 21--As the city faced down a financial crisis in recent years, emergency personnel were cut, and for firefighters that has resulted in a 30 percent increase in injuries and an increased danger to firefighters, paramedics and the public, officials said.

"We're absolutely short," said new Fire Chief David W. Hollinger, who came to the city earlier this year from Washington. "We have been maintaining our minimum manning by overtime. Absolutely our people are tired."

The cuts in the fire department reduced the number of firefighters on duty each shift from 22 to 18. There are also two chiefs and six medics on duty each shift.

That means there are two firefighters on each apparatus, below the nationwide standard of three or four firefighters per apparatus, Hollinger said.

"Years ago we only had one paid firefighter on each apparatus but we had six or seven volunteers on board," Hollinger said. "Those days are gone. The national trend is that volunteerism has slowed."

Volunteers scarce

The city has 12 volunteers, but Hollinger said he has not seen any of them at recent fires.

"The volunteers will never replace the professional firefighters," he said.

It's not just the firefighters who are overworked and getting injured. Paramedics are rushing from call to call and are being forced to work overtime, creating a dangerous situation where life and death decisions have to be made.

"Things can spiral out of control real quickly," Hollinger said. "We're already operating below industry standards and it is also a danger to people with the ambulances."

Hollinger compared it with emergency room doctors or truck drivers, who can work only so long before a mandated break.

"Our goal is to provide citizens with the most exemplary service," he said. "Our hardest-working division are the men and women out on the streets. I feel very positive about working with the mayor to address this."

Some help on the way

Hollinger said he plans to apply for an increase in the budget to add a fourth ambulance and bring more firefighters on board.

There are 11 firefighters and one paramedic recruit taking classes. With the addition of those firefighters in December, the workload on each person will go down, Hollinger said.

In the interim, firefighters and paramedics from the surrounding communities have been called in to help.

The Mount Penn Fire Company is one of a half-dozen surrounding departments that have been called in to help the city fire department when it's had a major fire or more than two fires at the same time.

Mount Penn Chief Timothy F. Waldman said it has not been a problem assisting the city, though he and his firefighters have noticed that they are needed more often in Reading.

"We don't get the number of structure fires they do in the city," Waldman said. "My guys seem to be handling it and I think they enjoy it. I look at it as on-the-job training."

Waldman said he has kept borough officials up to date on the situation.

He said his firefighters are called in to help in the city once or twice a month right now and are placed on standby more often.

"Is it too much?" he asked. "I don't think so."

Michael Shoumlisky, president of the city firefighters union, said that in just the past year, the number of injuries to firefighters has increased by at least 30 percent.

"We used to have 60 to 70 injuries a year," he said. "We've had over 100 in the past year."

A lot of firefighters do not report their injuries and tough it out, working through it, Shoumlisky added.

"These guys are being beat down from being overworked so much," he said. "It's a dangerous job as it is. Morale is pretty low. It was worse (when the cuts were made in April 2011) but we're all family and stick together. Each guy is being asked to do the job of five or six men. It takes a toll on you physically and mentally."

With 76 firefighters on the street in the past year, there have been 108 injuries reported, Shoumlisky said.

"It was unsafe when we had 22 firefighters (each shift)," he said. "Now we don't have that backup to make this job safer. We should have double what we have but I know that's never going to happen."

Council consensus?

City Councilwoman Donna Reed said she believes there is a consensus on council that money needs to be directed to emergency services.

"It's a gruesome situation," she said. "I believe we have a united council that all the effort needs to go with public safety and that means police and firefighters."

She said the city might have to look at regionalizing some emergency services like criminal investigations.

"With the fire department, we just need to make sure we have adequate manpower for the welfare and safety of the firefighters," she said. "They're all working as hard as they can and we're lucky they're only getting injured and not killed."

Mayor Vaughn D. Spencer and his spokesman, Michael Dee, referred all questions on the issue to Fire Chief Hollinger.

Contact Jason A. Kahl: 610-271-5024 or jkahl@readingeagle.com.

Copyright 2012 - Reading Eagle, Pa.