By Jill Rehkopf Smith
The Oregonian
Copyright 2007 The Oregonian
All Rights Reserved
FOREST GROVE, Ore. — Recent resignations are straining the Forest Grove Fire Department’s ability to respond to two emergency calls at once, a situation that occurred hundreds of times last year.
Two firefighters have quit in the past five months, including one this week. Now, fire officials are trying to come up with ways to ensure adequate response times to emergencies in the growing city, such as relying more on interns.
While the city of 20,000 has grown by 50 percent and emergency calls have increased by 40 percent in the past decade, the number of firefighters is nearly the same as in 1996, when the city first began using four firefighters per shift.
A 2002 public safety levy raised that number to five firefighters for each of the department’s three shifts, but the recent departures have dropped two shifts back to four firefighters.
The department cannot replace employees because City Manager Michael Sykes imposed a hiring freeze after a public safety levy failed narrowly in November. All departments supported by the city’s general fund were affected by the freeze and are preparing for cuts in case a similar levy fails May 15.
The fire station’s reduced staffing will further hurt its ability to respond to two calls at once, particularly when sick leave or vacations lower staffing to three firefighters on particular shifts, said Fire Chief Bob Mills.
That occurred Sunday, when a call about a breathing problem came in while the three on-duty firefighters were helping someone else. There was a 10-minute delay in responding to the second call, Mills said, although a Metro West ambulance was able to reach the person first.
Metro West Ambulance, a for-profit company, contracts with Washington County to take people to hospitals and helps handle medical emergencies. It has nearly doubled in size during the past decade, said Larry Boxman, vice president of operations.
The company stations one ambulance in Cornelius, another at Tuality Community Hospital in Hillsboro and aims to be eight minutes from any call.
But Metro West cannot be a substitute for Forest Grove Fire & Rescue, said Erin Miller, Metro West’s vice president of business development.
“They many times get there before us,” Miller said of Forest Grove firefighters. “We many times need more hands.”
Firefighter Charlie Marble’s last day was Monday. He began work Tuesday with the Hillsboro Fire Department.
Forest Grove Fire & Rescue lost another employee in November, when 21-year veteran Clay Davis resigned after admitting he falsified business inspection reports when his workload overwhelmed him.
Forest Grove firefighters are nervous about the results of the May 15 election. If the levy passes, the department will be able to replace Marble and Davis. If it fails, the city has proposed cutting a third position.
To supplement Forest Grove’s 13 line firefighters --possibly 12 if the levy fails --Mills hopes to change the department’s part-time “resident volunteer” program for college students into a 24-hour internship program for firefighters-in-training beginning in July.
In the three years since Mills was named chief, eight firefighters have left the department, including two retirements and one for medical reasons.
Dwight Lanter, Marble’s lieutenant, said Marble has been a great firefighter and a good worker: “I told Charlie I was happy for him, but on a selfish standpoint I hate to see him go.”