6. Fire Department Overtime and Medicare RestrictionsKalispell Fire/Ambulance Dept.
336 1st Ave. East • P.O. Box 1997
Kalispell, MT 59903-1997
March 4, 2002
To: Chris Kukulski, City Manager
From: Randy Brodehl, Fire Chief
Re: Current overtime situation
Telephone 406-758-7764
Fax 406-758-7758
Chris,
Through March 4, 2002, the Fire Department overtime expenses are $50,749.55. Our budgeted
amount for the year is $16,000.00. While we have transferred $31,491.00 into that account from
other line items, it still remains that we are already more than triple what we had budgeted. This
has been compounded by several factors that I have attempted to describe below:
1. The budget for 2000/2001 was $16,000. Our "actuals" were $40,953. This was two and
a half times the anticipated budget, and was two and half times greater than the "actuals"
for the year prior. We should have anticipated this when formulating our budget for
2001/2002. However, we used about the same number as the year prior.
2. Since 1994, the personnel staffing requirements for fire department response in the
United States has been a minimum of four firefighters. Kalispell did not respond to this
federal requirement at that time. When I came, I changed our staffing to the minimum
allowed by federal regulations. This was to protect the lives of the firefighters, give us
the minimum number of personnel on scene to make an interior fire attack, and to
decrease the City of Kalispell's risk of citation. Since 1994, several fire chiefs have been
held personally liable for firefighter deaths and injuries when operations were performed
outside of allowable standards. (See the case in court right now: Oneida County vs. Baird
which was a firefighter death and injury case where the chief officer was not in
compliance of OSHA 1910.134 and 120 as referenced below.) The State of Montana,
Department of Labor and Industry has adopted the OSHA standards for all fire
department applications. We are regulated in this area as follows:
-OSHA 1910.120 Immediately Dangerous to Life or Heath Atmosphere (IDLH)
Paragraph (q)(3)(v) ...requires that "operations in hazardous areas (emphasis
added) shall be performed using the buddy system in groups of two or more." In
addition, paragraph (q)(3)(vi) states that "back up personnel shall stand by with
equipment ready to provide assistance or rescue." This section means that as a
minimum the buddy system must be used within the hazardous area (entry
by at least two persons) and at least two additional personnel shall stand by
outside the hazardous area.
Thus, there must be at least four individuals at the site. One of the two
individuals outside the hazard area can be assigned to another task, provided that
the second assignment does not interfere with the performance of the standby
role.
1910.134 Procedures for interior structural firefighting. In addition to the
requirements set forth under paragraph (g)(3), in interior structural fires, the
employer shall ensure that:
(g)(4)(i) At least two employees enter the IDLH atmosphere and remain in
visual or voice contact with one another at all times;
(g)(4)(ii) At least two employees are located outside the IDLH atmosphere;
and
(g)(4)(iii) All employees engaged in interior structural firefighting use
SCBAs.
Note 1 to paragraph (g): One of the two individuals located outside the
IDLH atmosphere may be assigned to an additional role, such as incident
commander in charge of the emergency or safety officer, so long as this
individual is able to perform assistance or rescue activities without
jeopardizing the safety or health of any firefighter working at the incident.
NFPA 1710 5.2.2 Operating Units. (While technically not mandatory by federal
law at this writing, it is referenced by OSHA in their explanations regarding
1910.134 and 1910.120)
Fire company staffing requirements shall be based on minimum levels for
emergency operations for safety, effectiveness, and efficiency.
5.2.2.1.1 These companies shall be staffed with a minimum of four on -duty
personnel.
-Insurance Services Organization (ISO)
570 A On -Duty Strength (OM)
The total number of members on duty with companies shall be taken as a yearly
average considering vacations, sick leave, and other absences.
Toby Hubbard, Firefighter/Paramedic will be off duty at least through October of
this year with an on -duty knee injury. While most of his costs are covered by
Workers Compensation, all cost associated with overtime to fill his position are
not.
4. We have just filled a firefighter position that has been vacant for two months.
This delay was due to negotiations over the Assistant Chief/Fire Marshal position.
While we waited for that to finish, we had to fill those shifts with overtime. Also
during that time, we have had to fill the Fire Marshal's position with a lieutenant
off the floor, further reducing our staffing.
We are actively working to reduce the impacts of overtime. We have moved 1.1 FTEs to the
Building Department. One of the items up for review during negotiations will be a change in
hours worked from 24 hours on and 72 hours off, to 24 hours on and 48 hours off. This will
significantly reduce our overtime by giving us additional daily staffing without increasing the
number of personnel. As soon as our Assistant Chief/Fire Marshal is up to speed, we will begin
to use the Deputy Fire Marshal during the day for additional coverage. And, we are running a
test on using a daytime ambulance driver to increase our staffing during peak workloads.
Our Fire salary line item is beginning to catch up because of the openings we have had. We
anticipate that there may be enough in this line item to make a significant transfer at the end of
the budget year to cover costs associated with overtime.
Another item that is impacting us is the effects of more than $50,000.00 being held by Medicare,
while they make some adjustments to their system. We are beginning to catch up in that fund,
having gained about $25,000.00 this past month. We have also made some changes in our
collections and billing that are assisting us there.
Please let me know if you need additional information of clarification.