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INSIDE
Too
many hours, not enough people
by
Meg Olson
Regardless
of what it says on the side of car 510, the Point Roberts fire
department’s emergency response vehicle will not be responding
to calls 24 hours a day, every day. Division chief Nick Kiniski
told commissioners at their last meeting that he just couldn’t
put in the hours needed to keep the program going around the clock
with the limited volunteers available.
“I think
I’ve shown good faith here,” Kiniski said at the July 10 fire
district commissioners meeting. “I try and keep the program going
but as a chief, it’s too much.” Kiniski said that after working
a 40-hour or more week coordinating training, attending meetings,
doing paperwork, responding to calls and manning the emergency
response vehicle during business hours, he was logging more than
60 hours on evenings and weekends in car 510.
“We try and
rely on the volunteers but there aren’t enough to do it all the
time,” said volunteer battalion chief Bill Skinner, who logs dozens
of hour a month manning car 510. “We have people with full-time
jobs and families who just can’t afford to take the truck,” Kiniski
agreed. Twelve of the department’s 22 volunteers are qualified
to man the emergency response vehicle.
The car
510 program was started in 2000 to decrease response time to emergencies
by having a volunteer or paid firefighter trained in intermediate
life support on call in the vehicle around the clock. Through
the program the department has gotten response times down to under
five minutes from an average of 10 minutes for the ambulance and
15 for the firetruck.
North Whatcom
Fire and Rescue Services chief administrator Dave Crosson told
fire commissioners if they didn’t want Kiniski to go the way of
former division chief Mike Cadden, they would have to back off
on their expectations for the program. “We’re going to burn Nick
out,” he said. “This is part of the logic behind getting help
for these guys. You don’t have the resources right now to run
that thing 24/7.”
After Cadden
resigned a year ago, saying keeping the emergency response vehicle
staffed 24/7 was too much work, commissioners decided to replace
him with two full-time firefighters. However, faced with a budget
shortfall they scaled back the staff and Kiniski was put in Cadden’s
shoes.
Commissioners
agreed that until they could budget for more staff, the community
would have to accept that car 510 would not be manned at all times.
“If car 510 doesn’t respond, it doesn’t respond, we’re out of
our budget,” said commissioner Bill Meursing.
If car 510
is not manned, medical and fire emergency response will be handled
by calling out volunteers who will respond from wherever they
are and go to the fire station to pick up necessary equipment
before arriving on scene, which could mean longer response times.
Kiniski said he would continue to try to keep the emergency response
vehicle staffed as much as possible. “Do the reasonable thing,”
Crosson urged him. “Go for a run, take your wife out to dinner.”
Commissioners
are exploring options to get the department more revenue to increase
staffing and service levels, including asking voters to approve
a tax increase in the fall.
“If car 510
is not manned at a certain time then that’s the level of service
we’re at,” Crosson said. “We’re preparing some different budgets
at different service levels and looking at what they can buy.”
Commissioners
will consider the different budget scenarios and decide when to
ask for the levy lift and for how much when they meet again August
14. The department may also get additional funds for its emergency
medical program if county voters approve a special EMS levy on
the November ballot.
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