By Richard Weir
The Boston Herald
BOSTON — A city breakdown on the number of runs by individual fire companies shows a wide disparity between units, a situation that could result in some firefighters being moved out of less active stations, the Herald has learned.
Department activity reports reviewed by the Herald show that while some fire companies are extremely busy, responding to thousands of calls and hundreds of fires per year, others have lower volume and respond to more medical emergencies than actual fires.
Fire Commissioner Roderick J. Fraser Jr. said, “We don’t have any intention of closing any firehouses right now.”
But some high-ranking City Hall officials who have studied the data suggest that it might be more effective to move some fire companies out of some firehouses and add Emergency Medical Services crews into those locations instead.
“This is something we want to look at,” said one official. “It makes no sense for us to be chasing down medical calls in very expensive fire apparatus. . . . If the demand is mostly medical, why are we not putting ambulances in those firehouses?”
The official noted that responding to medical calls puts considerable wear on pumper and ladder trucks, which cost between $430,000 and $730,000.
While 801 of the 1,421 firefighters are trained emergency medical technicians whose rigs have defibrillators that can save heart attack victims, firetrucks do not transport patients.
An analysis of Fire Department records over the past five years reveals that several fire companies repeatedly respond to a lighter load of calls, some going to fires once every five days on average. Of the 754 runs performed last year by Engine 32 in Charlestown, 73 were to fires, while 278 were to emergency medical rescues.
Engine 49 in Readville made 620 runs last year, of which 82 were fires and 188 were medical emergencies. In 2004 it responded to 56 fires and in 2005 some 57 fires. Engine 20 in Dorchester last year responded to 96 fires and 543 medical emergencies.
In contrast, Engine 21 in Dorchester, which was called to 3,357 runs last year, responded to 386 fires and 1,133 medical emergencies. Ladder 4 in Roxbury, another busy company with 3,547 runs last year, responded to 447 fires and 857 medical emergencies.
As for the “rebalancing’’ of fire and EMS services other city officials have been privately weighing, Fraser said, “This is not something I have been looking into. This is something that would require more study. Our goal is to maintain the same quality of services today, and that includes responding (to fires) in NFPA guidelines.’'
The National Fire Protection Association recommends fire crews respond to 90 percent of fires in 5 1/2 minutes. BFD uses a four-minute timeline, which it meets 70 percent of the time, Fraser said.
Copyright 2009 Boston Herald Inc.