Elwood Fire Rescue: Fire Rescue News- Municipalities defend having paid firefighters vs. an all-volunteer force

Ventnor fireman Nick Steffanci gets ready to inspect equipment at the firehouse on New Haven Avenue.

Fire departments made up of paid employees have become the target of those looking for any cost savings a city can find in tough economic times.

And in Ventnor, where salaries and wages for the professional fire department made up.....Continue Reading

But South Jersey officials argue that it is not that simple — that each town is different and has different needs, from the high-rises of Ventnor to the one-story homes of Hamilton Township. Creating a volunteer department from scratch, meanwhile, isn’t easy either.

In 2011, the Ventnor Fire Department received 1,263 fire and service calls, including almost 500 calls in August alone, City Commissioner John Piatt and Fire Chief John Hazlett said — and the size and location of those structures is also an important issue.

“First of all, it’s a very densely populated community due to the close proximity of structures,” Hazlett said, adding that there are nine high-rise buildings in the city. “So it’s even more critical to get a quick attack on a fire to reduce its spread. ... The average response time is two minutes, and we’d never be able to come close to that without full-time, career firefighters on duty.”

In addition, Hazlett said, the department often receives multiple calls at once, especially in the busy summer months.

“We’re not a city that can afford any wait at all,” Piatt said. “We have to have the fastest response times possible, and we believe a professional fire department is the way to do that.”

Piatt said he understood the concerns about cost savings — as expressed most vehemently in a letter to the editor from Atlantic City resident Barry Sheppard, who wrote to The Press of Atlantic City: “The notion that every Ventnor resident’s house is going to burn down is just fear-mongering. Volunteer firefighters have the exact same skill set that paid firefighters have, except they don’t make the taxpayer their funding mechanism. ... (The) gravy train ride at others’ expense is over.”

But that argument, Piatt said, “is usually geared around saving many and reducing the tax rate. But I don’t think that’s the way to do it. When it comes to public safety, sometimes the savings can’t be the priority. Public safety has to be the priority.”

Some shore towns, however, split the difference — such as Wildwood and North Wildwood, which has a mix of professionals and volunteers. There are 12 full-timers in North Wildwood, with an additional 18 to 20 part-timers in the summer and more than 20 active members in each of the two volunteer companies.

“It’s a good make-up,” said Wildwood Fire Chief Christopher D’Amico. “It was probably the best solution the city fathers could come up with at the time.”

The professional staff is often stretched thin, D’Amico said, especially when there are just one or two men on a firetruck when a high-rise or Boardwalk fire breaks out.

“That’s why volunteers are vital to us,” he said. “And they do a good job. But it’s tough in today’s economy. A lot have one or two jobs, and a lot work out of town. You’re not (sure) who you’re going to get to an incident.”

One benefit, D’Amico said, is that “it costs $1.3 million to run the whole show. In a fully paid department, you’re talking three to four times that. And with the tax rate, the city can’t afford (that).”

Of course, in Wildwood and North Wildwood, mixed departments have been in place for decades — the 1920s, in North Wildwood’s case, said its fire chief, Jeff Cole Sr. — and a town such as Ventnor or Ocean City would have a hard time willing one into existence.

“To just go out and recruit volunteers today is a lot more difficult than it used to be,” Cole said. “To start from scratch is extremely difficult.

Those towns that do have longtime, all-volunteer departments are lucky, said Egg Harbor Township Mayor James “Sonny” McCullough.

“The volunteer fire companies save the taxpayers millions of dollars a year,” McCullough said of EHT’s five companies. “They are professionally trained just as much as any professional department. They don’t get overtime, they’re not on any particular hours, and they get called out at any time of the day and night. Our only obligation is a very small pension mandated by the state.”

Mays Landing Fire Chief Dave Connelly said no call has ever gone unanswered during daytime hours, “And it’s usually when calls go unanswered during the daytime, that’s when you look at filling hours with paid firemen.”

It’s the importance not only of response times but getting enough people to respond that makes the volunteer companies invaluable, Cole said. Otherwise, arriving at an occupied building with a rescue in progress without enough firefighters would mean having to “write off the building to focus on the rescue.”

That’s especially important in a place such as North Wildwood, which has a number of newer condos with what Cole called “lightweight construction.”

“I’m not saying there’s anything wrong with how they build them,” he said. “But due to the materials they’re made out of, they burn hotter and quicker, and collapse a lot quicker” than other structures.

The interview was suddenly cut off, as Cole had to leave. A call could be heard coming in over the radio of the smell of burning being reported — in a condo. And the city’s firefighters were on their way to the scene.

Fire Rescue News- Municipalities defend having paid firefighters vs. an all-volunteer force

Sunday, March 11 2012 @ 08:12 pm EDT