Ann Arbor Fire Department welcomes two new fire trucks while concerns about staffing cuts remain
Ann Arbor Fire Chief Chuck Hubbard poses on Wednesday afternoon in front of one of two new fire engines the city recently purchased.
Ryan J. Stanton | AnnArbor.com
Fire Chief Chuck Hubbard said the vehicles cost $365,340 each and are funded through the city's fleet fund, which the fire department pays into annually for future purchases.
The new engines will be responding out of stations 1 and 3 and are replacing Engine 1 and Engine B, both of which were purchased by the city in 1991.
"We definitely needed some new equipment. Our stuff's getting old, so this is great," said Hubbard, speaking in front of the Ann Arbor Justice Center.
Hubbard said the vehicles are from Crimson Fire, a custom manufacturer of fire trucks. Each is equipped with a 24-foot ladder and is capable of pumping somewhere between 1,250 and 1,500 gallons of water per minute, he said.
"From my understanding, these trucks are really environmentally friendly as well," Hubbard added. "They've got some kind of system built into their exhaust that's really easy on the air, so it's a good deal. Hopefully these will last another 20 years."
Counting the latest acquisitions, Hubbard said, the city now has seven front-line fire engines and another two in reserve.
Hubbard was appointed fire chief by the City Council in June. He's assumed control of a department that's been shrinking in size in recent years and faces threats of more cuts.
As of July 1, the department saw its ranks decrease from 89 to 82 full-time employees, leaving the city with 0.72 firefighters per 1,000 residents. Nationally, the average full-time career fire department in the U.S. has about 1.72 firefighters per 1,000 residents.
The fire department has an annual budget of about $14 million. The 82 firefighters listed on its roster include the fire chief and his administrative assistant, an assistant chief, the fire marshal, two fire inspectors, a mechanic, a training chief and the assistant to the training chief, leaving a little more than 70 other positions concentrated in fire suppression.
Asked how he's managing with the reduced staffing levels, Hubbard said so far there haven't been any major problems.
"It's always a challenge when you start reducing, so we're going to make the best with what we've got," he said. "This is going to be a trial and error situation. Anytime you start cutting any resource or anything like that, there's going to be negatives and positives. So we're going to look into different ways to structure ourselves so it's safe for the firefighters and we can also provide a good service for the citizens. It's going to be a challenge."
Police Chief Barnett Jones, the city's safety services administrator, said the department is still awaiting the results of a study of fire department staffing levels by the International City/County Management Association. A report was expected back in July, but it hasn't arrived yet, and Jones is hopeful it will be done by the end of this month.
Once that report is back, Hubbard said he'll be sitting down with the department's senior officers to discuss the department's next steps and there could be major changes on the way.
"I'm anxious to hear what they've got to say," Hubbard said. "Depending on what they say and what council wants to do and what level of service they want us to provide in the city, absolutely something's going to change. We just have to see what."
For now, Hubbard said, he's not sure what to expect.
"We're all just waiting to see what actually comes, what they actually found," he said. "I'm curious, too, to see what they came up with. I've been in the fire department for 25 years, so it could be to increase our manning, increase our trucks, more stations, I don't know."
Unrelated to Wednesday's open house, Lt. Amy Brow of the fire department held a public forum Wednesday night at the Elks Lodge with members of the Ann Arbor Democratic Party and other interested residents. Less than a dozen people attended the informal gathering, but those who did attend shared a number of concerns about fire safety in Ann Arbor.
Lt. Amy Brow of the Ann Arbor Fire Department speaks with residents during a forum on Wednesday at the Elks Lodge.
Ryan J. Stanton | AnnArbor.com
Brow said she's holding small group meetings throughout Ann Arbor and intends to write a research paper by November on Ann Arbor citizens' perceptions of the fire department.
Stephen Ranzini, president of Ann Arbor-based University Bank, said he's concerned the number of deaths from fires in Ann Arbor is on the rise and worries there's a correlation with continued cuts to staffing levels in the fire department.
"It's like playing Russian roulette with people's lives," he said, adding the cuts also mean residents are going to end up paying more for insurance.
Resident Jack Eaton, who ran unsuccessfully for City Council last year on a platform of protecting public safety, also commented on the increase in deaths.
"At this point in time, facing that problem, you have to describe what you would do to address that problem," he said. "And certainly more cuts aren't what you would do."
Multiple residents said they think city officials are making deep cuts to police and fire services to build a case for a city income tax that could bring in new revenue if approved by voters.
With a limited amount of personnel, Brow acknowledged there are times when the Ann Arbor Fire Department has to rely on surrounding jurisdictions — including the city of Ypsilanti, Pittsfield Township and Ann Arbor Township — for aid.
She pointed to one recent incident where multiple calls reporting a fire in Ann Arbor came in through dispatch at the same time.
"We had a fire on the 500 block of North Main. While en route there, they had another call of another fire in the city," she said. "So instead of sending all of our units to the fire on North Main, we had to send two units to go check out this other fire. Now, had that been a real fire, somebody would have had a lot more property damage."
If the city continues down the path of cutting firefighters, Brow said, she fears the department isn't going to have the resources to pull people out of fires.
"I think it's well worth funding emergency services, even if it means we have to pay more taxes," resident Jen Chapin-Smith said.
Multiple residents expressed concerns about a new policy enacted by Hubbard, which calls for taking one of the downtown fire trucks out of service when daily staffing levels fall below 19 firefighters. Hubbard enacted the policy as an alternative to the city's previous practice of closing one of the city's five fire stations on a rotating basis to curtail overtime costs.
Under the old policy, each month a different station was assigned to be closed and property owners received service from the nearest open fire station. Residents at Wednesday's meeting chalked up the new policy as "just a different bad idea."
Hubbard, who did not attend Wednesday night's forum at the Elks Lodge, talked with AnnArbor.com about the new policy earlier in the day.
"When we run short on manpower, we close a truck from downtown because we've got two down here. We run one instead of two," he said. "When we have enough staffing, then we open that truck back up and utilize it. So that part is true."
Hubbard said it's his opinion the department is still providing the same level of service that it has been providing, with the exception of running on less medical calls these days.
"We just have to be a little more cautious about how we attack," he said. "We're an aggressive department and we always have been, but we have rules we have to follow. The guys are smart enough to know when to slow down and when to do what they have to do. Obviously if there's a life safety issue, then we're going to go the extra mile. That's what we do."
Ryan J. Stanton covers government and politics for AnnArbor.com. Reach him at ryanstanton@annarbor.com or 734-623-2529. You also can follow him on Twitter or subscribe to AnnArbor.com's e-mail newsletters.
Comments
Rudy Caparros
Tue, Dec 11, 2012 : 6:59 p.m.
HazMat Experts and Firefighters petition Dow Chemical and Union Pacific for safe rail tank cars transporting gas chlorine. Secondary containment is a necessary improvement that must be implemented. See--PETITION C KIT for First Responders Comments.
Stephen Lange Ranzini
Thu, Aug 4, 2011 : 7:43 p.m.
In the article above, I was quoted noting that the cut backs in the fire department also mean residents are going to end up paying more for insurance. The reason for this is that the city is rated under the ISO standard for fire protection. According to several fire department officials I've talked to, they expect the recent cutbacks and future cutbacks already lined up to cause the city's ISO rating to drop. Insurance companies will then raise rates for property and casualty insurance. The increase in insurance costs could be significant and place many families on fixed or limited income in the position of losing their homes, when their monthly escrow payments for taxes and insurance rise. The city has the money (note the two new shiny fire trucks paid for by a separate fully funded "bucket"), $250 million of it, actually. The money just isn't deployed correctly where it is needed. City administration, city council and the voters need to work together to drain the buckets and deploy these funds where they actually need to be!
Carole
Fri, Aug 5, 2011 : 6:15 p.m.
Thank you for bringing this to the attention of the citizens because it is a very important issue to consider. I brought the issue to light some months ago, but never heard anything more about it. Not only is the city putting us as risk with less staff to keep us safe, they are insuring that we will be paying more for insurance.
63Townie
Thu, Aug 4, 2011 : 7:06 p.m.
More bread and circus. No tower = no external high rise service. The mayor better pray that Courthouse Square doesn't go up in flames while ladder #5 is in service in Ypsi.
bunnyabbot
Thu, Aug 4, 2011 : 6:40 p.m.
I think I read once that the average life span for a fire truck was 10-15 years, but I can't recall the source or why that was.
Ryan J. Stanton
Thu, Aug 4, 2011 : 10:30 p.m.
You're right. I think it's 10 years active and 5 years in reserve.
bunnyabbot
Thu, Aug 4, 2011 : 6:25 p.m.
as someone that doesn't like wasteful spending I am not upset that they got two new trucks. They put into a fund every year to get new equipment. Emergency equipment needs to be updated. While a 20 year old fire engine doesn't have the same amount of miles on it as a car might of the same age I imagine that wear and tear can only be compared to another fire truck. While I am driving a 13 year old car I don't know many people who are driving a 20 year old car or older (excluding "collector") That being said at some point repairs to a fire truck probably don't make much sense. I also wonder if for liability reasons the equipment needs to be within a certain age for either insurance or national accredidation ratings or something? At least they didn't get some ugly yellow/green trucks like they had in the 80's.
bunnyabbot
Thu, Aug 4, 2011 : 6:04 p.m.
I always find it interesting when they talk about firefighters per resident ratio. Are they including the student population? because that could throw the numbers off something like 30-40%. Just never new how they figured it.
try your best
Fri, Aug 5, 2011 : 4:20 p.m.
So at this point we are in agreement that the fire dept is staffed roughly 60% below the national avg for career depts. so if the students do get figured into the numbers it makes this look even worse then it already is since their here and not being counted. Wow! The Mayor and his cronies really are lost in a state of delusion.
bunnyabbot
Thu, Aug 4, 2011 : 8:53 p.m.
well dah! finding the population of ann arbor is easy Truth, knowing how they figure the per resident ration of the FD is another. The population of 114,000 does not include the student population, many of whom are counted as living in their parents home out of town. Population and resident are two different numbers.
try your best
Thu, Aug 4, 2011 : 7:53 p.m.
2010 us cencus 114,000 pop, sixth largest city in mich. That does not include college students.
Fat Bill
Thu, Aug 4, 2011 : 4:19 p.m.
Years ago, when I volunteered at a small rural fire protection district, I would often arrive first at the station. I would have 7 different pieces of apparatus to choose from. The first out rig depended on the nature of the call. If it was a medical, the light rescue truck rolled, structure fire, the engine rolled first, etc. When the firefighters are in the station, there should be no reason why they can't man the tower on high-rise structure fire calls and the engine on the other calls. If they get a call while they are out in the engine, the Battalion Chief could certainly choose to have one of the responding crews stop by and retrieve the tower. Firefighters tend to be pretty good at thinking on their feet, the argument of "we don't do it that way" has to be disregarded until we as voters are willing to pay more.
try your best
Thu, Aug 4, 2011 : 7:46 p.m.
@fat bill, The citizens of a2 already pay enough to properly staff a fire dept and a police dept. The problem isn't money coming in it's what the politicians have decided to spend it on. As long as the citizens keep voting in these people the priorities will stay the same.
try your best
Thu, Aug 4, 2011 : 3:07 p.m.
@tiredofitall, What is really going on, the tax payers are getting bamboozled either through ignorance or lack of careing. The mayor and his cronies have been taking property tax money that first and foremost is supposed to be used for essential services(police and fire) and creating a modern day Rome. Is this really how you want your tax dollars spent? I would like to think if i ever need to call 911 i would get the service i am paying for not the service the mayor thinks i deserve! My opinion.
Carole
Fri, Aug 5, 2011 : 6:13 p.m.
Agree -- after reading the many, many concerns re: how the city is running businesses these days, you would think that they would get the message -- "we the citizens are disgusted, please do something positive" -- like keep our AAFD and AAPD staffed sufficiently to take care of business in the city. Artwork of any sort is not going to safe the city if a major fire breaks, and hopefully that will never be the case especially if the tower truck has been taken out of service -- let's continue to express our concerns to the city and remember to vote in November.
63Townie
Thu, Aug 4, 2011 : 7:02 p.m.
@Truth, it's not that we don't care, we tell our mayor and city council members what we want until we are blue in the face and still they don't listen. The mayor has his bully pulpit and he's comfortable with that.
tdw
Thu, Aug 4, 2011 : 3:03 p.m.
How about getting a local artist (s) to transform the old ones into "art" for city hall ? Or wouldn't they be able to blow the entire $150,000 ? ( that's a joke, A2 not being able to blow all the money )
aes
Thu, Aug 4, 2011 : 2:54 p.m.
And another thing that I don't understand (along with almost every other decision that the city is making about cutting our police and firefighters) is--whatever happened to the threat of terrorism? I used to be a block captain and as such was called in for training to be a neighborhood liaison in case of a terrorist attack. Are we now relieved of any duty to watch out for terrorist attacks? Obviously, our local leaders think that there can't possibly be any, more judging by the fact that our local First Responders are being laid off so freely? Guess we won't be needing many first responders in the future.
LoveLife
Thu, Aug 4, 2011 : 2:52 p.m.
@racerx you TOTALLY missed the point. May be you should re-read. I could freakin' careless about the environmently friendly stuff.
LoveLife
Thu, Aug 4, 2011 : 2 p.m.
"From my understanding, these trucks are really environmentally friendly as well." Hubbard added. They've got some kind of system built into their exhaust that's really easy on the air, so it's a good deal." From your understanding? You are the Chief, right? Should you not KNOW what these trucks are? Explain to me the "some kind of system built into their exhaust that's really EASY on the air." What the heck does that mean to the average citizen? Will the 2, 24 foot ladders, that the two new trucks have, be capable of being tied together to create a length that will replace half of the 95 foot Tower truck that has been taken out of service. Someone really needs to step up and tell us citizens what is really going on. The smoke screen just gets thicker and thicker; kind of like the most recent, numerous fires that have been happening in the City. Talk about a ticking time bomb. From his "understanding" does he understand the potential seriousness of the lack-of-preparedness he is creating for our City's citizens and lack of safety he is creating for his employees; or maybe that is the part that is not being considered. Good luck to those on the front lines that REALLY have to do the job. Be safe.
try your best
Thu, Aug 4, 2011 : 8:02 p.m.
@Eep, The guy has been on the fire dept for 25+ years and a b/c at the time of his promotion to chief. I would think he was involved in the process or at least i hope he was.
Eep
Thu, Aug 4, 2011 : 7:03 p.m.
Considering that Hubbard has only been chief for a few months, and that the lead time for ordering these trucks was probably close to a year, it's understandable that he doesn't know every detail about the trucks' exhaust systems. The quote published here does sound a little bit silly, but who knows if Hubbard offered it up spontaneously or if he was specifically asked about the environmental features of the trucks by the reporter and gave the best response that he could.
racerx
Thu, Aug 4, 2011 : 6:46 p.m.
@TiredOfltAll-you first sentence makes reference to the environmental aspects of the trucks: "from your understanding? You are the Chief, right? Should you not KNOW what these trucks are? Explain to me the "some kind of system built into their exhaust that's really EASY on the air." What the heck does that mean to the average citizen?" So again, If its his job to understand this portion of you lead in sentence, what does it matter?
racerx
Thu, Aug 4, 2011 : 2:43 p.m.
@TiredOfltAll-give it a break, who cares how environmentally friendly they are or not! How often is the truck running to cause whatever amount of pollution you think is unsafe. I mean, really.
justwondering
Thu, Aug 4, 2011 : 1:10 p.m.
Why is the city wasting its money on things like new fire trucks that save people's lives? The city should continue to increase its purchases of more and more sculpture! I'm really glad the new equipment is here. I just wish we had more complete fire response coverage. I think the firefighters we have are doing a great job, but are stretched too thin.
AACity12
Thu, Aug 4, 2011 : 1:09 p.m.
The truck closed downtown is the 95 foot ladder truck. With that truck closed the only truck with a ladder capable of reaching a third story window is way up on the northside of town. Anyone who lives downtown or further south will have to wait 10+ minutes to get a ladder capable of reaching them. Just don't use the upper floors of your house or get ready to jump.
Wolf's Bane
Thu, Aug 4, 2011 : 12:39 p.m.
Two new trucks and nobody to drive them. Yahoo-ooo!
EyeHeartA2
Thu, Aug 4, 2011 : 12:26 p.m.
"Resident Jack Eaton, who ran unsuccessfully for City Council last year on a platform of protecting public safety, also commented on the increase in deaths." "Still feeling "comfortable", mayor?" You get what you put up with. Mayor Leifty just essentially was voted back into office on Tue., with the primary. The farce election in November is little more that a facade. Vote him (and the rest of the circus) out or quit complaining. (To be fair to Brad, no I don't know who you voted for and, while I did quote you, this comment was not directed at you)
EyeHeartA2
Thu, Aug 4, 2011 : 3:07 p.m.
I love it! When the Dems are in full fail mode, it is because they are really Republicans. Whatever.
M-Fan
Thu, Aug 4, 2011 : 2:06 p.m.
Mayor Leiffkky? There are a lot of folks in this town who feel that the city has 8 DINOs (Dems in Name only), 2 of whom have become DINOs because they lost elections as Republicans. Take a good look at who supports what on City Council. As a REAL lefty, I sure hope we can put some TRUE Dems on council. There are only 3 now.
Brad
Thu, Aug 4, 2011 : 11:51 a.m.
"This is going to be a trial and error situation" Still feeling "comfortable", mayor?