By Mary Sparacello
Times-Picayune (New Orleans)
KENNER, La. — Kenner firefighters union officials have revived their long-standing grievance over staffing levels at the Kenner Fire Department.
Kenner responds to fire calls primarily with three firefighters on each truck, rather than the National Fire Protection Association standard of four per truck, said Mickey Giarrusso, president of the Kenner Firefighters Local 1427.
“That’s been an issue for a long time,” Giarrusso said. The union also has been battling recently with Mayor Ed Muniz over firefighter pay.
While Mayor Ed Muniz said he would like to add more firefighters to the current staff of 89, he doesn’t know where the money for salaries would come from.
“In a perfect world I totally agree with” the need for more firefighters, Muniz said. But “I need a funding source.”
City Councilman Joe Stagni said he’s concerned about staffing.
“It creates a real problem because it puts additional wear and tear on our equipment,” said Stagni, explaining that the Fire Department sometimes dispatches additional trucks from other parts of the city to get enough manpower to fight fires.
Muniz turned down a $1.6 million federal grant that would have enabled the city to hire 21 more firefighters in 2006, because Kenner’s required match of the salaries increased each year until the city paid the entire amount in the fifth year.
“I don’t know where I would have gotten the money to pay the firemen,” he said.
Kenner is not the only community in that position. Jeff Johnson, vice president of the International Association of Fire Chiefs, testified before Congress in July, recommending the grants be changed because of the rising number of jurisdictions that declined the money because of the local match requirements for the second, third or fourth year, according to the fire chief association Web site.
Muniz said that if the federal government changes the format of the grant by paying 80 percent of the salaries -- “we can handle it.”
Giarrusso said he thinks Kenner could pay its share of the grant as higher-paid fire officials retire and their salaries could be used to pay lower-paid starters.
The National Fire Protection Association recommends four firefighters on a truck for the safety of the firefighters and the “operational efficiency of the firefighting unit,” said Curt Varone, the division manager of the association’s public fire protection division.
Giarrusso said the “two in/two out rule” requires at least two people in a hazardous atmosphere and two people outside to monitor and rescue them if necessary.
“This department has been underfunded for so long,” he said.
Though Kenner residents approved years ago to allow a levy of as much as 11.02 mills for fire protection, the Kenner City Council this year and last voted to levy 7.4 mills. Some council members and Muniz have said they would oppose raising the millage unless residents vote for it.
“Let the voters decide,” Muniz said. He said he is willing to work with the firefighters to develop a proposal to take to the public for a millage increase.
“You don’t just call the election,” he said. “You’ve got to prove there’s a good reason.”
Even taking it to a vote would be a last resort because city officials should try to get the money for salaries by cutting costs first, Stagni said.
“Not only do we have to prove it to the citizens of Kenner, we also need to prove to them that we’re willing to consolidate services so that we get the biggest bang for the taxpayer buck,” Stagni said. “You exhaust all other measures and then you let the people decide.”
Copyright 2009 The Times-Picayune Publishing Company