Firefighters meet with FIT

Last Updated on Tuesday, 10 January 2012 11:59 Written by Ann Richardson Wednesday, 11 January 2012 00:00

OCEAN CITY – A day after two City Councilmen presented a plan to save money by replacing retiring firefighters with less expensive Emergency Medical Technicians, representatives of FMBA Local 27 appeared at a Fairness in Taxes meeting to discuss fire department operations.

Firefighters took FIT members through a routine fire response, from the 911 call to the arrival of trucks and engines. They explained the potential rescue of multiple victims and the equipment necessary to make it all happen.

It was not the services that FIT members were questioning, it was the cost of providing them, FIT President Michael Hinchman said.  The configuration of the fire department was the “cornerstone” of the proposed plan to change the model of the Ocean City Fire Department.

The plan presented by Councilmen Scott Ping and Keith Hartzell could save the city more than $400,000, Hinchman said. The economic proposal should be considered, but he said the discussion should move beyond the proposed change in a fire model.

“What is the right configuration that the public feels safe with?” he asked.

“We’re a little scared,” Hinchman said to OCFD Capt. John Murphy and Firefighter Ray Clark, president and vice-president respectfully of the local union. He said the world had changed; Ocean City was not immune to the economic woes plaguing the nation.

“The tide is going out, and we’re going to see who has their bathing suits on,” he said.

Firefighters, he said, made a good case that the city would save money with increased pension and health care contributions but failed to understand that the defined pension plan firefighters are entitled to after 25 years of service is a luxury unknown to the private sector. A firefighter retiring with a salary of $100,000 would receive a pension of $65,000 plus cost of living allowances for the rest of their lives.

“In the private sector we have a 401K,” Hinchman said. “You ought to think about it.”

Hinchman said private citizens have to amass – and bank - more than $1 million after taxes, assuming a relatively high 5 percent return on investment, just to match the pension. That figure would not include other benefits afforded retired firefighters, such as health benefits. The actual figure, he noted, would be much higher and firefighters were guaranteed the pension “come hell or high water.”

Clark said there is no ceiling on what entrepreneurs and others are capable of earning in the private sector while union members are limited to contractually agreed upon salaries. Using a plumber in the audience as an example, he said the plumber could amass a half-million dollars and keep on going, to finance ski trips, a house in the islands and so on. The sky is the limit, he noted, as the private sector accumulated more income.

FIT members mostly disagreed.

“Maybe I don’t understand the private sector,” Clark said, adding that bonuses and other benefits propelled the private sector ahead of union members, but FIT members said that was not the case.

Murphy noted that firefighters do not pay into the social security system nor do they receive any funding.

“A lot of people don’t realize that, we rely on our pension,” he said.

To illustrate a typical fire call, firefighters played out the response to a fictional fire at a duplex near the library, where the meeting was held. Clark assigned roles to several FIT members. Hinchman, he said, dialed 911. The Deputy Chief, FIT member Pete Guinosso, would drive the Suburban and be the first to arrive on the scene.

A total of 11 firefighters would respond, Engine One, Truck One and Ambulance One from Sixth Street and Engine Two and Ambulance Two from 29th Street.

Firefighters at the 46th Street Station would be notified but would not leave the fire house unless instructed to by the deputy chief.

Clark said the “coordinated attack” on the fire meant that each of the firefighters played a role. Those in the engine hook the hose to the fire hydrant and extinguish the fire. Those on the truck are “more responsible than anyone,” as they climb on the roof, cut a hole for ventilation and worry about the family that might be trapped inside.

The “wet stuff goes on the red stuff,” Clark said; the ambulance crew creates a prep area with burn kits and other equipment.

Firefighters are required to form a “Rapid Intervention Team,” RIT, with two firefighters inside and two waiting outside, “two in and two out.”

“You need two firefighters outside ready to go in and rescue the firefighters inside,” said Murphy.

“While all of this is going on, a medical call comes in,” said Clark. “Who is taking the medical call? There is no one left.”

Meanwhile, firefighters have to protect the neighboring homes, which could be eight feet away. “You can only do that for so long, with 75 pounds on your back. We need more people to give us a break,” Clark said.

Sometimes mutual aid is requested from neighboring fire departments; sometimes off-duty personnel are called in.

Eight firefighters are on duty at Sixth Street, with four at 29th Street and three at 46th Street.

Hinchman asked why police officers were not among first responders.

“It treads on firefighters but it works,” he said.

Murphy said he and Clark were not responsible for preparing the City Council presentation given by Acting Chief Charlie Bowman, but said the expected savings from the proposed changes were “kind of misleading.”

“EMT’s can’t work the schedule we work without overtime issues,” he said, adding that he doubted the city would see $400,000 in savings.

Clark said comments from a retired firefighter at the city council meeting “gave me chills.” A renowned fire expert said Ocean City had an exemplary firefighting model.

“Who is the expert?” Clark asked. People, he said, hate the report issued by Tri-Data concerning safety stating the city does not have enough firefighters. “The city spent taxpayer money for a report to see how to run the department, they went to the chief but they didn’t want to listen.”

Council, he noted, has a thankless job but “Who is the expert? Who do we go to?” Clark asked.

When questioned whether Ocean City was a low, medium or high hazard community concerning the possibility of a fire, Clark said it was “all three.”

With single family homes, high rise motels, vinyl-clad duplexes, a boardwalk, airport and thriving downtown, the risk of a multi-structure fire is high.

A low risk community requires 13 firefighters, medium 17 and high, 25.

“We respond with 11,” he said. “We’ve had this discussion with the mayor.”

Clark said there should be four or five on a truck but they realize “that’s not happening in Ocean City.”

Resident Dave McGettigan said firefighters performed their duties - “dangerous, very difficult” work – to perfection. For him, it came down to capacity and resources.

“What are we able to pay?” he asked. “No one on earth wants to put a firefighter or citizens at risk, but what are we able to pay for it? There’s the reality unfortunately. We’re in bad financial times.”

Clark and Murphy noted that the rank and file firefighters are working without a chief. Meanwhile over the past decade the OCFD has taken on more responsibility, including emergency medical services.

“We’ve done that with the same manpower,” Murphy said. “The union should not be the guys here doing this. It should be the administration, the mayor helping to explain the budgetary operations and the changes. Let’s have a workshop when we have a leader. It’s not fair to you and it’s not fair to us when we don’t have a chief.

“Every year it’s something different,” Murphy said. “The public comes in and says they like the services but they want it cheaper. You just got it.”

Murphy noted that firefighters could not receive more than a 2 percent raise and would be paying toward the cost of health care and pensions, thus saving taxpayer dollars. New hires would never see the salary he is earning, he noted.

“We went head and shoulders above what everyone is paying,” he said. “We’re paying more and the city saves.”

FIT members said they would like the firefighters to return but no date was set.

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