By Elliott Hughes
The Janesville Gazette
JANESVILLE, Wis. — The number of emergency calls fielded by the Janesville Fire Department continues to rise, while the department’s staffing levels continue to flatline.
Car accidents and medical emergencies have been going skyward for years. And so far in 2016, those trends have been coupled with spikes in residential fires, water rescues and hazardous materials incidents.
If projections hold, the department may hit the 10,000 mark for possibly the first time.
“That is a concern,” Fire Chief Randy Banker said, referring to the swelling call volume. “We need to start getting some more personnel.”
It’s been a busy year for the department, which many people at City Hall believe to be operating at or near minimum staffing levels.
Based on fire department data from January through June, the number of emergency calls for several types of incidents in 2016 are projected to surpass the department’s average from the previous five years. Those include:
- Medical calls, which deal with anything from general illness to cardiac arrest, up 27 percent.
- Car accidents up 25 percent.
- Hazardous materials calls up 24 percent.
- Residential fire calls up 19 percent.
- Total calls up 24 percent.
Banker said the medical calls, car accidents and hazardous materials incidents are products of an aging population and the close proximity to Interstate 90/39, which he called a “very busy Interstate that gets busier every year.”
There were 32 residential fire calls between January and June this year. Banker said a common factor in perhaps a half-dozen of them was improperly discarded cigarettes.
Water rescues also are up. The department responded to seven during the first six months of 2016, more than twice as many as all of last year. Banker said there was no “common denominator” between those incidents.
With the seasons about to change, things are not expected to let up. Colder months mean more fires caused by space heaters and fireplaces. Rain, ice and snow mean slippery roads for cars.
Add it all up and 2016 may be the first time the department cracks 10,000 calls for service, after topping out between 9,200 and 9,500 in 2014 and 2015, respectively. Debbie Bruns, an administrative assistant, said in her 18 years with the department the call volume has never reached five digits.
If things keep pace, the department will be called upon 10,500 times. That’s a 43 percent increase from 2011, back when the department received 7,300 calls.
And yet staffing levels in 2016 are identical to what they were in 2011.
In both those years, according to city budgets, the fire department employed 94 people. It had the same number of firefighter-paramedics, shift commanders and so forth.
Last year, Deputy Fire Chief James Ponkauskas told The Gazette that staffing levels have not changed much since 1980.
The department has five ambulances but staffing for four, Banker said. A year from now, he is hoping to win a federal grant that would fund the six positions needed to add a fifth ambulance into the regular rotation.
Budget season is approaching, but with City Hall facing a nearly $1 million shortfall, there has been talk only about reducing staff, not adding any. City council members have repeatedly said they will not consider lowering staff in the police and fire departments, however.
The Janesville Fire Department covers about 110 square miles, Banker said. Its personnel frequently assist with calls in nearby towns.
This year, the department also began a new program in which fire department ambulances transfer patients from Janesville hospitals to medical facilities up to 90 miles away.
But Banker said that hasn’t made any problems for the short-staffed department because the staff who conduct the transports work overtime. The department can and has turned down transport requests when necessary.
They performed 110 transports from January through June, according to the department’s data.
“That’s been working,” he said.
Copyright 2016 The Janesville Gazette