By Bernard Harris
LANCASTER, Pa. — Facing complaints from city firefighters that they are short-staffed, Lancaster Mayor Rick Gray announced Tuesday that he was recalling two laid-off firefighters and eliminating management positions in the top-heavy fire bureau.
The recalled firefighters will fill vacancies left by the retirement of senior firefighters. They were among four firefighters with the least seniority who were laid off in February 2010.
The restructuring of bureau management entails eliminating the four battalion chief positions. Their duties will be performed by captains, the next lower level of supervisors.
City Fire Chief Tim Gregg said battalion chiefs - one for each of the four platoons — were needed when he started working for the city in 1985. At that time there were about 25 firefighters per platoon.
Now there are 16 firefighters per platoon, at most, and as few as 10 or 11 during the summer vacation season. As many as four of those firefighters are supervisors, Gregg said. And, the battalion chief and captain are largely redundant, he said.
Gray noted that the National Fire Protection Association recognizes only four officer levels. The city Fire Bureau now has five.
“It’s a top-heavy structure,” he said.
The move is intended to have as many firefighters as possible protecting the city, Gray and Gregg said.
Yet firefighter Tim Erb doesn’t see the moves changing anything.
“That’s not going to give us any more or any less,” Erb, president of Lancaster Professional Firefighters Association, said.
The recalled firefighters are taking positions that until recently were filled, and the battalion chief on duty runs to every call that comes across the radio. Calling that position a fire captain likely won’t change anything.
“I can’t see that it is going to enhance our numbers at all,” Erb said.
Erb said he is not sure how the changes will be implemented. He said he was blind-sided by Gray’s announcement, and the union was not consulted about the restructuring.
Gregg said three of the four battalion chief positions are now filled. They will be shifted to captain. Of the four captain positions, three are now filled. One of those captains will be elevated to deputy chief, making five captains.
Gregg expects one of those captains to retire within the next year and half, leaving four people in four slots.
The duties of the battalion chiefs will be largely assumed by the captains. Discipline and some administrative functions, however, will be shifted to the new deputy chief, Ed Haubert.
Haubert will be given responsibility for bureau operations, while existing Deputy Chief Sue Warchola will lead training efforts.
“I think the outcome will be better oversight for our personnel and better training, and that has been sorely needed for a long time,” Gregg said.
Initially, neither Gray nor Gregg could say whether the moves will save the city any money. In fact, they may cost more.
The battalion chiefs will continue to receive the same pay once they become captains. Gregg declined to call it a demotion for the battalion chiefs, contending that their positions were being eliminated. And there will be an increase in pay for Haubert, although the amount of that raise was not stated.
Gray maintained they are trying to work more efficiently with the resources available.
“We’re doing our best to work with $10 million,” Gray said of the bureau budget.
“It will put more people in a firefighting capacity than we have currently, and that’s what we want is firefighters,” he said.
The moves come as the city and the unionized firefighters negotiate a new three-year contract. The current contract is due to expire at the end of the year.
Copyright 2011 Lancaster Newspapers, Inc.