Jan. 17—Norman’s fire truck situation is not as bleak as may have been implied and understood at the Jan. 7 Fraternal Order of Police mayoral candidate forum, the city fire chief said.
A question at the debate forom stated the Norman Fire Department has been running fire trucks with only one firefighter on board and called the situation a “grave safety concern” for both the firefighter and residents in need of assistance.
The question prompted all four candidates at the debate to discuss how the city can put more money toward the fire department.
Fire Chief Travis King said this issue is only specific to the department’s two ladder trucks. Engines, which occupy each of the nine fire stations throughout the city, are typically staffed with four firefighters.
“The concern was, ‘Man, does it sound like the public is in jeopardy? Is the fire department in such dire straits over staffing that people’s lives are in danger, that sort of thing?’ and I would say ‘no’ at this time. That is not the situation we are in,” King said.
King explained that the fire department used to shut down its ladder company and distribute personnel throughout the city to keep minimum staffing on the engines.
He said he changed this practice when he became chief; he worked out a deal between the city and a fire union to have at least one firefighter operating each ladder truck.
While this is a more specific issue than may have been implied at the FOP forum, King understands the actual concern, too.
“From the union’s perspective, they’d like to see three people from these ladder companies every single day, and certainly, I’m not opposed to that,” he said. “You are more efficient with more people on them.”
But while the engines are generally staffed, King said the fire department has sometimes had to allow overtime to keep them at that level.
The fire department currently has 164 firefighters — five or six people short of a full staff, according to King, and 29 short of what’s recommended by the National Fire Protection Association for a city the size of Norman.
He said the department put in budget requests for more personnel annually to get its ladder companies fully staffed.
“I’m always working with the city to look at how we can add staff when we can afford it,” he said.
Source: https://news.yahoo.com/nfd-chief-fire-truck-situation-144500917.html
