The Round Table
departments
No matter what scientific mumbo-jumbo was used to justify it, the manning level for a fire company has traditionally been arrived at “by guess and by God.” More recently the manning level has been arrived at by the amount of money available to pay the fire fighters.
Neither method is, of course, satisfactory.
With this in mind, what in your opinion, and for your department, is the proper manning level for a ladder company and an engine company? And how many men do you run on each piece?
Raymond J. White, Chief, Scarsdale, N. Y.: The Village of Scarsdale is unique in many ways. Its 6 1/2-square-mile area is located approximately 15 miles from the burned-out South Bronx. It is basically a bedroom community for the much larger New York City. It has very little industry, thus very few major fires requiring large numbers of men and equipment to battle them. The fire department responds to approximately 1000 alarms per year. A small percentage of these are major fires.
We have three fire stations strategically located through the village. Our full manpower complement consists of 45 paid fire fighters, giving us two men assigned to an engine and one man to a ladder company. We are also supplemented by 150 volunteer fire fighters, many of whom are equipped with monitor radios and are ready to respond at a moment’s notice.
There is no doubt in mind that certain people will say that this is not adequate manning of apparatus. I don’t believe manning levels can be arrived at unilaterally; they must be worked out on an individual basis. Our experience in Scarsdale has proven to us that our present level of manning is adequate to handle the types of emergencies and fires we encounter.
As far as ability to pay, I guess it could be said that Scarsdale can afford a much larger force. I believe it would be poor management to recommend more manpower than is actually needed in any community. I also believe that in certain municipalities the manning level of companies within their boundaries should differ in accordance with the type and number of emergencies answered by the particular companies. With urban renewal changing the interior of most our cities, I believe a complete reevaluation of the fire fighting defenses in these cities is in order. Also, the fact that new and more modern equipment is constantly being developed which is designed to be operated by one man may change the thinking of chiefs in the future.
Jack Reed, Chief, Missoula, Mont: I would like to see our ladder company respond with at least three fire fighters and pumpers with five.
Our present response is one driver with the ladder truck and three fire fighters with an officer on a pumper from our Headquarters Station. Our second substation responds with three fire fighters, including an officer, and our third substation with only two men, including an officer.
It is extremely difficult to convince mayors, city managers, city councils, etc., to increase manning when they are faced each year with ever-increasing budget costs, not only in manpower but in all other areas of city administration.
Thomas P. Hansen, Chief, Bend, Ore., and Deschautes County Rural Fire Protection District No. 2: I feel that a minimum manning for an engine company or a ladder company should be four men. This manning will give a balanced team and enable the men to perform their duties safely. With the tax crisis facing all of us, this cannot always be done. Since manning is dictated by the funds available, alternate methods are required.
Our department consists of 32 paid personnel and 45 volunteers operating out of three stations. Our main station has seven paid personnel assigned on a 24-hour basis and our two substations have one engineer on duty each 24 hours.
Our normal still-alarm response in the high-value districts of the city is one engine with three or four paid personnel and a second engine with one engineer backed up with the two EMTs assigned to the first response ambulance, making a crew of three.
In the outlying areas, the still-alarm response is one engine from a substation nearest the fire with one paid engineer, backed up with one engine with two or three paid men from the main station.
If information is received or, if en route or on arrival it is found that the fire is a structural one or beyond the capabilities of responding apparatus, a general alarm is sounded and all off-shift paid personnel and volunteers respond either to the fire, the station, or to apparatus assigned to augment manpower or respond with additional apparatus as needed. Our ladder truck is manned by off-shift personnel and volunteers and responds on all general alarms.
Our on-shift paid men make an initial attack and a holding action until our off-shift personnel and volunteers arrive, which for our city does not take too long. Our average response on general alarms during the last year was 40 members.
Thomas W. Burns, Chief, Caldwell City and Caldwell Rural Fire Protection District, Caldwell, Idaho: The City of Caldwell owns three pumpers—a 1972 1250-gpm American LaFrance, a 1961 1000-gpm American LaFrance and a 1948 1000-gpm General. The Caldwell Rural Fire Protection District owns a 1978 1000-gpm American LaFrance pumper and a 1951 1000-gallon Ford tanker.
We have 19 city fire fighters and four rural fire fighters and eight volunteers. Usually we use three or four fire fighters on the first-in pumper and two on our second pumper which lays out to the hydrant. One fire fighter stays at the station as dispatcher and other off-duty fire fighters report to the station in case of another alarm.
As you can see, we don’t have a ladder company, but I feel there should be at least five fire fighters plus a driver on each ladder company. I also feel that we need a minimum of four fire fighters on the first-in pumper and at least three fire fighters assigned to the second pumper.
As you can see, we are undermanned by approximately one fire fighter on each apparatus.
Larry R. Denison, Chief, New Albany, Ind.: In my opinion, there should be at least four men on a ladder and four men on a pumper. We presently run with two men on the truck and depend on the ambulance to provide us with two more men. We run with three men on all engine companies.
M. L. Coleman, Chief, El Paso, Texas: I do not agree that the manning level for fire companies has been established “by guess and by God,” but by fire officials utilizing the grading schedule as leverage to obtain the most money possible to hire the greatest number of fire fighters possible.
The proper manning of companies cannot be best determined by the application of a standard grading schedule. There are many variables that must be considered and applied by unbiased individuals using all available information to determine the means of providing the acceptable level of protection.
I think, in some cases, the grading schedule has been used and is still being used as proof to fire fighters that anything less than the manning recommended by that schedule is inadequate, unfair, hazardous, unacceptable and always the reason for unsuccessful fire fighting.
The proper manning for our department is four men on each fire company. We presently run with four men on about one-third of our companies and three men on twothirds of the companies. We have, in my opinion, been very effective with this manning for 35 years.
Donald E. Kovacs, Chief, Southside Fire Department, Savannah, Ga.: The Southside Fire Department is a subscription-type fire department and is made up of volunteers and paid personnel. Our area of coverage is approximately 220 square miles with a population of 35,000. We have six stations with two under construction and a third to be built in 1979. In four of the stations we have two men on duty per shift and the other two stations at this time are completely volunteer.
We have had an aerial truck for over a year and fortunately never have had to use it at a fire. Truck operations are performed by volunteers as they arrive at the scene. The aerial is brought to the fire by a paid engineer. Since the area is composed mostly of onestory buildings, except for the mall area, having a four, five or six-man ladder company is not economically feasible or necessary.
The volunteers are trained in all phases of fire operations, including operation of all fire fighting equipment. We average 600 alarms a year and rarely ever have had a problem with manpower. The first-alarm response for the aerial is only for the mall and the hospital. It does not run in other areas unless needed. We respond to all structural fires in a hydrant area with two pumpers, an equipment truck and a total of four paid men. In a non-plug area we respond with two pumpers and a tanker and four paid men. This has worked out very satisfactorily in the past. Our average response time is just over three minutes with an average of 11 men per fire. We are a Class 6 department and hope to lower our class to a 4 or 5 by the end of 1979.
I personally feel that three men on the engines would be adequate with the volunteers support for our department. This type of manning is used in most of the area except in the larger paid departments. With money permitting and when the need arises, I consider an ideal condition would be to have three men per engine, two men for a ladder company and a four-man squad that would respond when needed.
Peter Gartner, Chief, Mandan, N. Dak.: Our department, is made up of paid-on-call men, so we are not looking at nearly as big or as tight a budget as many fully paid departments.
We feel it is necessay to have a six-man engine company and a seven-man ladder company. Our equipment truck and minipumper run as one company, which is manned by eight men.
