By Jamie Thompson
FireRescue1 Editor
LOS ANGELES — Firefighter staffing cuts are a “death sentence” to department members and citizens, IAFF General President Harold Schaitberger said Monday.
Speaking at the opening of the IAFF John P. Redmond Symposium in Los Angeles, Schaitberger accused some local governments of using the poor economy as an excuse for making reductions to fire departments.
“You can’t ignore the difficult economic times we are in,” he said. “But some of it is being pursued by those that have wanted to roll back the clock on our profession but never had the guts or will to do it, and now have a poor economy to use and it’s an excuse to hide behind.”
The four-day symposium, which comes to a close Thursday, covers occupational health and safety hazards of the fire service. This year’s event has focused on preparing members for survival both on the fireground and from the economy.
‘Hold the line’
During Monday’s address to the symposium, Schaitberger said the United States is caught up in a long-term, serious contraction of government services, and pledged to “hold the line” on the issues where life and death are concerned.
“For us, we know that adequate staffing is imperative at the individual company level,” he said. “I don’t want to lose companies, I don’t want to lose a station. But I don’t want us to ever give up a single ride on the rig.”
Schaitberger told members of the audience they knew departments should not be riding with less than fours and fives.
“Where you are already below those numbers, further cuts are simply a death sentence for our members and for citizens,” he said. “We must not be shy about saying that directly to elected officials and the public.”
While the fire service needs to make it clear that closing companies and firehouses is dangerous, Schaitberger said, a rig rolling out the door cannot be understaffed under any circumstances.
“It’s bad for the public and it’s life threatening for our members,” he said. “We’ve got to protect every ride on every rig, that’s our job.”
An ongoing study to try to provide evidence on the significance of crew size began last year involving several organizations, including the IAFF.
One of the most critical parts of the study — live-fire training — took place at Montgomery County, Md., Fire Rescue Training Center over two weeks in February.
The training was geared toward examining the effect of crew sizes (two, three, four and five persons per engine) and equipment arrival times on fire growth rates and a person’s ability to survive in a building fire. The final results are expected next year.
Schaitberger said he believes it will give conclusive proof that company staffing levels do impact firefighter and citizen safety.
“We will finally have the empirical data that we need to measure how staffing with fours and fives is critical to firefighter and public safety, providing the critical statistics and proof that adequate staffing truly does save lives,” he said.