Wasteful use of fire trucks called out by 350 Salem OR

Sending a giant fire engine out to respond to a medical emergency is like having an Amazon package delivered by a semi-trailer truck. In each case, almost always there's no need for such vehicle overkill. 

But even though just 2% of calls to the Salem Fire Department involved fires, the department is asking for $26 million in the $300 million bond levy on the November ballot to replace worn-out fire trucks. 

The reason, pretty obviously, is that those trucks are being used inappropriately. If a right-sized vehicle was used for medical emergencies, fire trucks would be used for their intended purpose: basically, fighting fires.

350 Salem Oregon is concerned about this. Below is a right-on message that was emailed to city officials on September 11 with the subject line, Council meeting 9/12/2022 re: Wasteful use of planned purchase of new fire equipment

I heartily agree that the Fire Chief needs to answer questions about the issues raised in the message so that voters can be assured that the $26 million earmarked for new fire trucks will be used wisely -- which likely means changes need to be made in how the Salem Fire Department handles medical calls.

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To:       The Mayor, City Council, Climate Action Committee and City Manager

From:   350 Salem Oregon

             Phil Carver, Co-coordinator

For the Sept. 12, 2022 meetings of the City Council and Climate Action Committee
Public Comment on $26 million portion of Infrastructure Bond Levy
RE: Wasteful use of large fire equipment in planned purchase 

In response to our oral comment at the end of the August 22 Council meeting there seemed to be a recognition that there is a serious issue the Council should address to help passage of the Bond Levy. Many people have noted the wasteful use of very large fire trucks to respond to medical emergencies, sometimes arriving after the ambulance. Instead the City should have appropriate electric vehicles for such use at every fire station.  

The planned bond levy includes $26 million to replace fire trucks that have been worn out by this inappropriate use. The lack of willingness to address this issue threatens public support for the Bond Levy.

 

350 Salem has submitted a statement for the Marion County voters’ pamphlet for the November election supporting the Bond Levy.  We asked at the Aug. 22 meeting that the Council ask for a formal public response and discussion on this issue from the Fire Chief at the next Council meeting.  Yet there is no such item on the agenda for Sept. 12.

350 Salem brings the information below to the attention of the Climate Action Plan Committee and the Council related to this issue.

 

In 2018 the SFD developed a Salem Fire Department Strategic Plan 2018-2023. Included in the plan was this:

Objective 1-G

Responsibility:

Timeline: 2

Explore alternative non-emergency medical delivery systems.

Benmoussa, George

July 2019- July 2020

Critical Tasks:

• Investigate other organizations' alternative non-emergency medical delivery models.
• Identify which model(s) best serve the needs of the Salem community.
• Identify costs to implement recommended model(s).
• Research partnerships to fund the new delivery system(s).
• Propose implementation and funding requirements to Council and the budget process.

A few months ago 350 Salem made a public records request to ask for the results of this analysis which was supposed to be completed in July 2020. The response received was that this objective was not completed and that the SFD has no plans to complete it.

 

The response cited the City’s projected General Fund budget deficit in future years as the reason they are not going to pursue this objective. This makes absolutely no sense since successful “alternative non-emergency medical delivery systems” would presumably save money rather than cost more money. It would help resolve budget deficits.  

 

Even if the City decides immediately to buy appropriate vehicles with Bond Levy funds for the Fire Department’s response to medical emergencies, we urge the Council to have the Fire Dept. conduct and expand the study above to address both emergency and non-emergency medical problems.

 

It is not clear how often the Fire Dept. response is after or virtually simultaneous with the ambulance. There may be a way to have the ambulance be the only responder if the Fire Dept. response would be essentially simultaneous. Other systems, such as a completely adequate ambulance response, also should be studied.  

 

Summary:

There is no available discussion that would indicate it is reasonable to send huge fire trucks to respond to medical emergencies. The attached Fire Standards of Cover from around 2018 is 140 pages but has zero discussion of types of vehicles used for various purposes.  

 

The most recent data (attached) show 2 percent of responses were for fire emergencies, 73 percent were for medical emergencies and 23 percent were for other uses of vehicles. This indicates huge potential cost savings from not using large fire vehicles for medical emergencies.

 

These are very expensive vehicles to buy, operate and maintain. Much of the planned $26 million cost of the new fire vehicles and the added cost of maintenance and operation will be wasted compared to buying and using appropriate sized electric vehicles for such responses. 

 

At a minimum the Council should demand an explanation for this apparently wasteful practice by the Fire Chief. It is not clear why this discussion is not on the agenda for the Council meeting of Sept. 12. Private discussions of the issue with the Fire Chief do not address the public's concerns over wasting Bond Levy funds on using large vehicles for medical emergencies.

 

 

Download Salem Fire Department Standards of Cover (PDF file)

Comments

[Janet]

It's an uncomfortable truth that fire departments inherited emergency medical duties because they were paying lots of people a comfortable income with special benefits to be on call in case a fire broke out in their respective neighborhoods...which almost never happened.

A complete reorganization and renaming of what we think of as The Fire Department is long overdue. None of it makes sense.