Fire Budget Asks for Safe Staffing Funds, Holiday Pay, New Station

The Fairfax City Fire Department has proposed a mostly flat FY2012 budget with a few suggestions: Additional funds to keep a safe staffing level at all times, full holiday pay for employees, and a plan for rebuilding an aging fire station.

Chief Dave Rohr asked the City Council at a March budget meeting to add about $57,000 to keep four fire and rescue personnel on duty at all times. The guideline is promoted as the industry standard by the National Fire Protection Association. Not all of Northern Virginia's fire departments meet this standard.

He also recommended that the council spend $59,207 to give firefighters full time-and-a-half holiday pay. Right now firefighters receive pay at a 1.0 rate instead of the 1.5 seen in public works and police paychecks.

The proposed FY2012 fire budget includes increases to account for market adjustment costs and fringe benefits for employees (but no merit increases), a more expensive EMS vendor bill and inflation in the city-county contract.

More volunteers and fewer overtime costs help keep the budget down, Rohr said. Volunteer fire and rescue staff step in to cover career firefighters. Volunteer staffing has increased by 25 percent this year, saving the city $4,671 a month in overtime costs.

Yet there are holes in the department that volunteers have not been able to fill. Fire inspections are running about a month behind since a past budget cut eliminated a fire inspector position. The department has stopped offering citizen CPR instruction since the life safety position was cut. Fairfax City Fire's troubleshooting efforts rely on the city's IT department, personnel that have yet to escape cost reductions over the years.

That's not to say the department has nothing to celebrate. 

Firefighter accidents and injuries are down 10 percent this year, an accomplishment Rohr attributes to the department's new safe work environment campaign and emphasis on safety culture.

Staffers have received 17,396 additional training hours so far, a 5 percent increase. 

Volunteers raised enough money to partially fund a new EMS unit and rescue engine. The two cost just short of $1 million. The remaining funds came from EMS cost recovery.

And out of 59 cardiac arrests last year, Fairfax City emergency staff were able to resuscitate 13 thanks to council-approved Lifepak 15s and Lucas CPR devices.

Rohr requested $193,000 to finish upgrading the department's self-contained breathing apparatus (SCBA) equipment as part of the National Fire Protection Association's newest standards. The funds would finish replacing 16 of the fleet's 100 SCBA bottles, add new harnesses with technology designed to track firefighters, provide displays that send an alert when a firefighter's air levels are low, and outfit belts with emergency rappel devices.

As of now, Fairfax City is one of only two fire departments in Northern Virginia with this advanced equipment.

Rohr hopes to receive funding in FY2013 to look into rebuilding Fire Station No. 33 in a different location. A feasibility study would consider what resources Fairfax City can dedicate to replacing the station's aging infrastructure. 

It'd be a long process. If approved, a new fire station wouldn't be completed before 2018.

Fairfax City Council will meet to discuss and possibly adopt the proposed budget on Thursday, April 28. to read about the proposed schools budget.