Fire Department Issues
 

Taken From the IAFF Local Villages Fire Dept Facebook

***Staffing Alert***Like and Share***
Today, January 28th, 2020, the following units are out of service due to staffing:
Rescue 41
Rescue 44

The following units are staffed with only two firefighters:
Engine 40
Ladder 43
Tower 51

To express your concern please contact the following officials:

District Management
352-751-3939

Fire-Rescue Administration
352-205-8280

This affects residents of Lake and Sumter, not Marion.

:what: What about this scenario...... a resident of Marion Co. has an accident in the Sumter or Lake Co. portion of the Villages. Maybe has a heart attack on a golf course in the Sumter or Lake Co. portion of the Villages. Maybe chokes on food while having lunch at a restaurant in the Sumter or Lake Co. portion of the villages. :ohdear: Firefighters do much more than fight fires and emergency situations happen all over the entire Villages.

To the men and women of Local 4770 IAFF - Thank you for your service to us and BE SAFE! :ho:

I think you read too much into that. By residents I meant in Marion County. I am very familiar with my job I’ve been doing it for 11 years ������

The more important thing is the original post. I hope this is not a normal thing for The Villages Fire moving forward to save money.

///

Thank you for your service

:ho: Thank you. It was my honor to serve.

I ran short handed many times in my career.....now disabled because of it...life safety ....should be administration and political priority....running shorthanded puts the citizens at risk..the .....shutting down stations is crazy...why did you build them in first place?.......come on people get your act together!

I am a retired Washington DC firefighter. I pay taxes in Florida and the Staffing of our fire departments here in The Villages is unacceptable. It is not only dangerous for the firefighters but it is dangerous for the residents that live here and depend on our fire department for their safety.

24% raise in taxes and they don't have minimum manning? People need to be up in arms about this. Firefighter Union needs to get a better contract. There should be minimum manning according to the NFPA and overtime for manning shortages.

More info please
 

We need more information. Is this rare, or does it happen often? Is it because we are short staffed, or are people out sick? Is recruiting keeping up with our needs?

We had a significant increase to the fire charge on our tax bills a couple years ago so that firefighters would get a good pay increase. We had been training people and they would then jump to another city. How do we compare to surrounding communities now? Is that still happening?

:) Village Firefighters are District employees not County. The tax increase was Sumter Co. property taxes. But you are right there should be reasonable minimum manning..... I prefer the term "Safety Staffing" for the safety of the residents and the firefighters. :ho:

The politicians know they can rely on the silent majority to remain....SILENT!

Hence no response to the real issue!!!

Recent property tax increase has nothing to do with fire services. That is billed separately as a fire fee. I have been told that the fire fee for commercial and residential, in Sumter County, are the same not a flat rate for residential and a sq ft % for commercial like most counties are. If true then I suspect that is part of the funding issue facing management.
I have voiced my concern with district management regarding the short staffing of fire apparatus.
More and more building coming will mean increasing the fire fee to support proper staffing.

If you roll into a working structure fire with two members on a rig, there’s not much you can do. If it’s an engine company, one member is operating the pump panel, that leaves the remaining member to stretch a line and get it into operation without a back up or officer. On a ladder company, one may need to operate the aerial ladder or tower, once again that may leave one member to possibly force entry into the premises and initiate a search. Unsafe, to say the least.

I remember another thread about same subject, and the problem seems to be the same still.
Trained FF/FR leave for other stations outside for higher wages and better conditions of employment.
Others leave on completion of training for the same reasons.
Untill it is as good as, or even better pay and conditions than outside stations, I cannot see the situaton improving or changing.

Thank you for this information. I was not aware that our fee structure was like this for commercial buildings. Once again the burden is on the homeowners and the Developer’s commercial properties get a break. How can this be changed? Is it something that new County Commissioners can address?

Where I live in rural(ish) Washington state our station runs somewhat of a "shortstack" Two Firefighter/Paramedics man the Rescue while the Captain follows in the Engine. That is for medical calls. If it's a TC or fire they run the two firefighters in the engine and the Captain follows in the rescue and acts as Engineer. Then they start rolling in additional resources from other stations if necessary. Seems to work okay.

So, here is what we residents can do. We can notify the proper authorty and inform them that we are willing to pay an increased fee in order to make funds available to hire addtional employees and pay higher wages so that they stay. I'm not sure how to get this started. Any ideas?

If you have any questions or concerns and you don't want to call the District you can also call Fire Station 44 and ask for one of the Chiefs . They'll be glad to answer your questions and explain the numbers to you. 352-205-8280

Yes, I hope we soon see new County commissioners more in tune with the residents. Changing the fee so business pays a more fair share is a start. I still feel with all the continued building The Villages FD will need to grow to meet that growth and thus that means the fire fee will need to go up as well. Safety of firefighters and residents are at stake.

I would suggest a review of the same budget that carries the fire departments needs.
A line by line review to be able to see where the funds are being directed.
There most certainly will be pet projects that carry a lower priority than fire protection is being allotted.
Once armed with the details then one can determine whether there is a need to volunteer to pay anymore or not.

There is a link in the 'other' site to the recent Fire Fighter pay and conditions negotiations, pertinant to this thread

I want the firefighters, paramedics and ent’s receive fair wages. What I don’t like is the Union “negotiating” thru the media. The stuff they put on their website, release to “that other website” etc cannot be verified.

I thnak the firefighters for the work they do. However, I am always suspicious of union websites.

I am such a skeptical person. Is it a realtor musing or the union lobbying?

We cannot thank first responders enough here in The Villages. The percentage of saved lives in The Villages has to be far above other communities, and I am one of them as they kept my heartbeat from slowing and stopping on the fast drive to TVRH about two years ago. Three fireman were put aboard to be sure they had someone to start my heart again if it stopped. To say I am a fan is an understatement.

I am sure we all want to see them have safe and effective numbers and fair pay.

I just like to know who is talking to me.

Absolutely. The number one objective of unions is Dues.


Been there, seen that.

So, does anyone know what the REAL story is?

You'll get 2 stories, depending who you talk to.
Management/Union

Is this a staffing issue (lack of enough personnel to work/cover the shifts), or budget (won't pay for overtime to staff apparatus)?

Are there a large number of people off on sick/injury leave?

Is it a combination of both?

I've NEVER heard of running with 2 on a Fire apparatus, in a "Professional" department...
What sense does THAT make?
You don't have Volunteers showing up on the scene to fill the crews.

Unacceptable. This needs to be fixed!

It is a combination of issues.
There are currently 40 firefighters assigned to each of the three 24hr shifts however there are currently three open spots. Then you have daily shortages caused by vacation or sickness.

The other part of this issue is the overtime cost.

A new hire class of six recently started their training and that help fill some of the shortages.