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Report: Fire department relies too much on callbacks

Town may be able to save money by redeploying its emergency staff and changing inefficient staffing model

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A staffing and organizational study of the fire department conducted by Emergency Services and Consulting International determined the town could save money by redeploying staff.

Photo/Orleans Fire Rescue

Rich Eldred
Cape Cod Times, Hyannis, Mass.

ORLEANS, Mass. — The town might be able to save money by redeploying its emergency staff.

That’s the conclusion of a staffing and organizational study of the fire department conducted by Emergency Services and Consulting International. The report was presented to the board of selectmen last week by consultants Stuart McCutcheon and Mary Ellen Harper; it says the town could save close to $500,000 by eliminating the callback model.

“We looked at the historical demand for service and the bulk of the calls were EMS,” Harper said. “We looked at demand over the year and in July and August there’s a spike.”

They looked at response time standards, the amount of time to respond to 911 calls, the turnaround time of ambulance runs and travel times as well as financial issues.

“Seventy five percent of EMS billing is Medicare and Medicaid,” McCutcheon said. “Twenty percent is private insurance. EMS calls in general are 50% transport and 40% non-transport.”

McCutcheon said that only 10% of the calls require three paramedics – one to drive and two in the back of the ambulance. That depletes the staff remaining at the station.

“While the staffing model that is in place within the Orleans Fire Department has served the community to date, it is ESCI’s finding that this current staffing model is neither sustainable nor efficient,” the report concluded.

“The fact that the current model has remained in place for as long as it has is a testament to the operational line personnel, who are regularly making split-second decisions about the dynamic deployment of firefighters and apparatus.”

The report said shifts are inadequately staffed and the department relies too heavily on firefighter callbacks. ESCI also said the staff on hand was deployed inefficiently.

The consultants recommend keeping five firefighters on each shift, with a minimum of four, and reduce ambulance staffing to two firefighters, from three. They recommend three firefighters per engine at the firehouse, with two available for ambulance duty if needed.

The report also recommends overtime callbacks for EMS duty be eliminated. ESCI believes this could allow to town to eliminate the requirement that callback firefighters live within seven miles of the station and perhaps make it easier to hire, since firefighters could seek housing in more affordable towns.

Most of the above would have to be done via changes in the union contract.

The report noted a full alarm fire in Orleans would require 17 staffers to be at the scene.

“One concern that was repeatedly expressed during interviews with both the management and labor of the Orleans Fire Department was the disparity between the salaries in the Orleans Fire Department and those offered by other fire departments in Cape Cod and the ability to attract new firefighter paramedics,” the report noted.

Orleans’ base salary in 2018 was $53,716 compared with $72,899 in Harwich, $62,028 in Chatham, $60,495 in Brewster and $59,263 in Eastham. Those figures for other towns are from 2020. ESCI recommended the town make its pay more competitive

The average total response time for an EMS call in Orleans was 9:22, with most of that as travel time.

The department’s annual budget is $2,890,736 for 2020, $2.1 million of that is for personnel. Overtime represented 22.5 percent of the expense in 2019, at just under $600,000. Currently Orleans can have as few as two firefighters on a shift, not counting the chief and deputy.

The consultants recommend a minimum of four staffers with a fifth available for relief over four shifts. That would require 20 full time firefighters, the number currently available.

That would cost $1,809,076 a year including fringe benefits. Without the relief factor the cost is $1,447,261 with 16 firefighters. The report did not recommend reducing staff.

Removing fringe benefits, which is how the budget is listed, the cost for the four firefighters in relief shift is $1,320,493, which compares favorably with the current base salary plus overtime pay expenses of $1,814,263; the change would save the town $493,770 if the department eliminated overtime and callbacks – which is what the consultants recommend.

“The current model relies on the callback system,” Harper said. “It’s inconsistent and expensive, and firefighters are not always available. A better option is to have them in the station where you need them rather than with a pager. The current cost is $495,000.”

Newly named Fire Chief Geof Deering just came on the job two weeks ago and hasn’t had a chance to fully review the 130-page report.

“The report is nothing short of comprehensive,” he said. “It’s a lot to process, especially being 10 days into the job. But it opens the door to a move forward in a planned way. There’s a lot of good data and recommendations. But how we implement it will take time to think through. “

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©2020 Cape Cod Times, Hyannis, Mass.
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