Massachusetts Fire Chief 2009

AND ITS EFFECT ON FIRE DEPARTMENTS THE CURRENT ECONOMY ©www.dreamstime.com Rarely a day goes by when we haven’t been reminded about the dire ﬁnancial situation of our federal, state or local governments. We have been constantly reminded of the looming threat of massive federal and state budget deﬁcits, knowing eventually these deﬁcits will have a direct impact on our local government and our ﬁre departments. The ﬁ nancial situation we face today is much different than previous years. The crisis that is before us has the capability to change our community’s landscape for many years to come and each community’s ﬁre chief must be prepared to meet this challenge. The following are just some of the issues we may have to address in the very near future. The ﬁrst issue that we will have to deal with is the reduction in our operating budgets. For paid departments, regardless of size, the line item for salaries clearly exceeds the line item for operating expenses. When ﬁre chiefs are faced with preparing budget reductions of two, ﬁve or ﬁfteen percent, stafﬁng is dramatically affected. These reductions may result in reduced or eliminated ﬁre prevention activities, loss of ﬁre ﬁghter training programs, engine and ladder company reductions, station closings and the possible loss of emergency medical services in departments that may provide them. The loss of engine and ladder companies and station closings typically translate to longer response times and larger ﬁres. Larger ﬁres with reduced stafﬁng means increased mutual aid responses that are often of longer duration. Fire mutual aid systems will be utilized more frequently by cities and towns to compensate for the stafﬁ ng reductions. This unique economic situation also leads to, depending on the type and size of the community, another challenge: property foreclosures. Lending institutions are foreclosing on residential and commercial properties at an alarming rate. The end result is abandoned structures. These properties will present another challenge to the local ﬁ re chief. Utility companies will terminate services to these buildings leaving them without heat or ﬁre detection. These properties will fall into disrepair and continue to be neglected and will soon be used by homeless people, drug dealers, squatters and vandals. When these properties are involved in a ﬁre incident, they will put an already depleted ﬁ re department staff at risk. As we all know, reduced ﬁre department stafﬁng can lead to increased ﬁre ﬁghter injuries and larger ﬁres. Fires that were usually conﬁned to the room of origin in the past are fortunate to now be conﬁned to the building of origin. An increase in ﬁ re damage to vacant properties can result in occupied structures becoming involved through ﬁre extension resulting in a further loss of taxpayer revenue. The ﬁre service hasn’t had the same alternative revenue opportunities that law enforcement has enjoyed had over the years. Unfortunately for the ﬁre service, the grants that we have become accustomed to applying for have slowly had their funds reduced. During this period of ﬁnancial turmoil obtaining grant money will be like it was in the 80s, nonexistent. This translates into departments having to maintain vehicles as ﬁrst line apparatus that should have been placed into reserve status. From ﬁre apparatus to ﬁre hose, departments will be forced to maintain existing equipment in lieu of purchasing new. The ﬁre service community has met these types of challenges before and succeeded and we will do so again. The ﬁ re chiefs that came before us established ﬁre mutual aid systems that continue to work and will again be a vital resource for today’s crisis. Both State Fire Marshal Stephen Coan and the Fire Chiefs Association of Massachusetts (FCAM) have worked together and obtained various resources to assist ﬁ re chiefs to aid them during major incidents. We have ﬁeld communication units, rehab vehicles, incident command vehicles, mass decontamination units, and hazardous material teams. We’ve come a long way, in good times and in bad, and we will survive this crisis too. ❚ M A SSA C HUSE TTS FIRE CHIEF 2009 | 31 BY CHIEF STEPHEN BURKOTT

Table of Contents Feed for the Digital Edition of Massachusetts Fire Chief 2009

Massachusetts Fire Chief 2009 Contents A Message from the FCAM President Code of Ethics/Vision Statement Bonds of Service Legislative Report The Fire Chief for 2009 and Beyond Leading a Combination Fire Department Remember When Fighting for Code Change Leadership Matters Fire Risk Management - Fire Chiefs - Codes The Current Economy and its Effect on Fire Departments Statewide Fire Mobilization Plan Beware of the Truss Index of Advertisers

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