Mayor Grace: Department’s plan won’t happen

ELYRIA — Running out the fire station door for every medical emergency call will stop if proposed Fire Department plan to shift responsibilities back to just fighting fires is implemented.

PROPOSED FIRE DEPARTMENT CHANGES (from Assistant Chief Bob Dempsey, acting fire chief) 1. Stop responding first to medical emergencies. A medical emergency is defined as a life-threatening call such as difficulty breathing, heart attack, stroke and trauma. The fire department will respond to calls only when its expertise is requested by a direct call to dispatch. 2. Stop making overtime available for training of specialty teams. Those include Hazardous Material Response Team (Hazmat Team); Water Rescue Team, Lorain County Fire Investigators and the Lorain County Technical Rescue Team. 3. Terminate the Elyria Hazmat Team. The Hazmat Team needs an enormous amount of equipment. However, Dempsey said the team’s current equipment is outdated. And, with no money in the budget to replace the equipment, the team will not be sent out in outdated, inadequate gear. The city is still contracted to aid the county hazmat team, paying a yearly stipend of $2,000. As such, two Elyria firefighters will still work on the team. 4. No longer allow the Lorain County Emergency Management Agency to house emergency response equipment in the fire stations. This includes a hazmat zone trailer, technical rescue trailer and mass causality trailer. 5. Stop the practice of responding to animal rescue calls and providing public education programs.

The sweeping change is being asked for by fire officials who are finally chiming in with plans of their own after months of Mayor Bill Grace solely dictating directives.

Assistant Chief Bob Dempsey, who is acting fire chief in Chief John Zielinski’s absence, recommended the changes Wednesday in a letter addressed to Grace. It was in response to Grace’s order to permanently close Fire Station 2 on Broad Street and consolidate responsibilities among three fire districts.

“The fact remains that we cannot do it all,” Dempsey said. “We cannot continue to tell people that we can provide them with a certain level of safety when, in actuality, we can’t. The reality is cuts have been made to this department, and we are just unable to provide the same level of service with 14 guys as we did with 17.”

The most visible change residents could see only happens after 911 calls are made.

Dempsey said the Fire Department should stop the practice of responding first to medical emergencies as soon as possible.

Instead, LifeCare ambulances or another private ambulance service should show up when 911 is called and the Fire Department should only come if its expertise is needed.

A medical emergency is defined as a life-threatening event such as difficulty breathing, heart attack, stroke and trauma.

“We have a large call volume in the city and only three trucks in service,” Dempsey said. “It’s very difficult to suggest these kinds of changes, but it’s something that has to happen because we can’t do it with the manpower we have now. We are not happy about this.”

Grace’s response to Dempsey’s letter was swift.

“We will continue to go on emergency medical calls. That policy change is not going to happen, not in the foreseeable future,” Grace said. “It’s an important service we provide to the residents of Elyria, and any adjustment we make to the Fire Department will not affect that service.”

Herb de la Porte, vice president of LifeCare Ambulances, said such a policy shift would result in deaths.

He said that if there’s an emergency at a busy Elyria location such as Midway Mall, it takes firefighters three minutes to get there and about six minutes for an ambulance because of where the vehicles are stationed.

“That’s not much of a time difference unless you aren’t breathing. Then it’s life and death,” de la Porte said.

Lorain firefighters union head Tony Bucci said when Lorain dropped its level from 19 on-duty firefighters to 17 because of a looming budget deficit, they too were forced to stop serving as first responders.

“It came out of necessity, it wasn’t something we wanted to give up,” Bucci said. “But the reason is similar to what Elyria (fire) is facing.”

Bucci said firefighters often have an advantage of getting to a destination first because of the strategic location of fire stations. But when manpower is cut, he said, a firefighter’s first duty is fighting fires.

“There are only so many things you can do with the amount of people,” he said. “They’re put in a tough position of being a firefighter or a first responder, and their primary mission is being a firefighter. I agree with their recommendation and wish them luck.”

De la Porte sees the situation differently.

Firefighters are trained to give CPR until medics arrive, he said, and it’s that training that can get a pulse or respiration started strong enough to get a patient to EMH Regional Medical Center.

There are about 50 cases each year in Lorain and Elyria in which a victim isn’t breathing, de la Porte said. Lorain doesn’t have first responder service, and up until now that’s meant a higher survivability rate in Elyria, he said.

De la Porte said he was surprised Wednesday when The Chronicle-Telegram informed him of Dempsey’s intent to end the first responder program because the acting chief had not contacted de la Porte for input.

He said he is confident Grace will countermand Dempsey.

“It doesn’t make any sense,” de la Porte said. “Ending the program would be very bad news.”

Grace and Dempsey will meet today to discuss the contents of the letter.

However, Grace on Wednesday characterized it as a “gross over-reaction to previous requests to cut the number of fire stations and a call to perform some routine duties.” It is the latest example of the department “hitting an all-time low” in its current leadership, he said.

With Zielinski on extended medical leave, Grace said the administration is looking into all lawful options as for the future leadership of the department.

Additional changes include providing no overtime for specialty team training, terminating the Elyria Hazmat Team, no longer allowing county EMA equipment to be housed in fire stations and stopping the practice of animal rescue and providing public fire safety education.

Tom Kelley, head of the county’s Emergency Management Agency, said he had a brief conversation with Grace about Dempsey’s letter.

“He said not to worry about that right now,” Kelley said. He declined to comment further on what the new policy would mean for the EMA.

As for the rest of the proposed changes, Grace said most, if not all, will likely not come to fruition.

Dempsey said the changes are necessary because the reduction of staff and the closure of Fire Station 2, both directives of Grace, have adversely affected the department.

“Our training has suffered greatly because we just don’t have the manpower to do it all,” he said. “Training is the most important thing we can do for our guys to prepare them for a fire. We have to equip them and train them, but with 14 guys training has been going by the wayside.”

To restore the cut services, Dempsey said Grace would need to restore minimum staffing to 17 firefighters and reopen Fire Station 2.

The ongoing struggle between the mayor and the Fire Department has ruffled more than a few feathers on City Council, which is still pushing for an independent audit to help determine the department’s future.

The management study must still be seen as a critical component, said Councilman Vic Stewart, D-at large.

“Right now, the mayor is trying to do what he feels is best for the administration and the city, and the same can be said for the Fire Department,” he said. “That’s why the audit has to be done and looked at as a plan for us to build on.”

Nonetheless, seeing a plan of action from the Fire Department is a welcome change, said Councilman Mark F. Craig, I-4th Ward.

“It’s good that the Fire Department is finally reacting to the criticism of the administration that they have not offered any changes,” Craig said. “It shows that they are willing to participate in the process to save the city money in their department  This shows there is leadership and a command structure within the Fire Department, and they are willing to step up to the challenge.”

As for the changes, Craig said further review is needed.

Such a review should include more analysis of comparable departments, said Councilman Larry Tanner, D-1st Ward.

“I think it’s time we hear what other fire departments are doing,” Tanner said. “It might help us to determine if our guys are doing more than normal.”

Council will likely weigh in heavily on at least one other proposal of the department.

The fire prevention bureau has begun drafting legislation that will call for all new residential homes built in Elyria to be constructed with an automatic sprinkler system.

Such legislation will likely be met with apprehension, but, if approved, will help provide an additional level of fire protection, Dempsey said.

“Our primary mission is to protect people and property from the ravages of fire, and in order to do so we will continue to push for four fire districts,” he said. “We’ve been set up to fail. We’ve had our resources cut, but we’re still expected to keep doing it all.”

Developer Lorne Elbert said he’s tired of laws that save cities money at the expense of builders.

“If they don’t want to build any more houses in Elyria, then fine,” he said after learning about Dempsey’s letter.

Elbert said he couldn’t say how much it would cost to install automatic sprinklers without having more details.

Grace said approval of such a measure wouldn’t happen.

Jason Hawk and Stephen Szucs contributed to this report.

Contact Lisa Roberson at 329-7121 or lroberson@chroniclet.com.

 

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