NEWPORT
Only one of two engines will be in service over the next five months, while the station will move to a 19person minimum shift.
By Sean Flynn
Daily News staff
Passersby who look into the Touro Street fire station this week will see no fire engines or firefighters inside. But the station is not closed, according to firefighters.
“We have no intention of closing Station 5,” Fire Chief Harry J. Hallgring Jr. said Tuesday. “That is a strategically critical station for us.”
Typically, there are two fire engines at the Touro Street station, Engine 5 and Engine 6, but only Engine 5 will be assigned there for the next five months. This week, Engine 5 and the firefighters who staff it are operating out of the Fire Department’s headquarters on Marlborough Street.
On Sunday, Nov. 1, the Fire Department moved from its usual 20-person minimum shift to a 19person minimum shift. The change, made to try to save on overtime costs, will remain in effect during the late fall and winter months, through March 31.
During that time, Engine 6 will not be staffed. It will be moved to Station 2 on Old Fort Road, where it will be available if there is a multialarm fire, the chief said.
Engine 5 will operate out of headquarters this week because the firefighters are being re-certified as emergency medical personnel. The state requires they renew their licenses through additional training and testing every three years.
Since the re-certification process will continue through mid-December, the Touro Street station will be vacated for periods of time until then. Hallgring avoided using the word “closed.” He said firefighters and an engine remain assigned to the Touro Street station, whether they are at headquarters, out conducting inspections or responding to an emergency call.
“I understand the public’s concern,” Hallgring said. “They are monitoring the situation closely, but Station 5 remains open.”
Berkshire Advisors Inc., consultants hired by the city in January 2006, recommended closing the fire station on Touro Street and building a new fire station in the city’s north end. Newport has three fire stations, including the headquarters on Marlborough Street and the fire station on Old Fort Road, in the south end of the city.
The Berkshire report, released in September 2006, said the Fire Department’s headquarters
STATION A5
David Hansen ◆ Daily News staff
Station 5 on Touro Street in Newport will be without Engine 5 this week as firefighters from the station work out of the Fire Department’s headquarters on Marlborough Street. The station’s Engine 6 will be taken out of service as firefighters complete emergency medical training.
Continued from A3
and its Touro Street station are too close together in the central part of the city . The result is that the response time to rescue calls in the north end is longer than for other areas of the city, the consultants said. The north end also has the highest number of calls, according to the report.
The Touro Street station, if vacated, could be used to house the Fire Prevention Bureau, which does not have adequate space at headquarters, the report said.
“Very little would be gained, and in fact, due to the seasonal nature of our community and the locations of our heavier fire loads, the staff felt more would be lost than gained,” said then Fire Chief Edward W. McCarthy Jr. in response.
Since then, firefighters have continued to reject the recommendation to close the Touro Street station, which is located among the densely packed wooden and historic buildings of Historic Hill. When a fire broke out at the Hotel Viking on Sept. 21, firefighters at the Touro Street station were just 100 yards away and were on the scene in a minute, a Fire Department spokesman pointed out at the time.
Under a provision in the firefighters contract, the city can move to a 19-person minimum for each shift from November through March. This was the decision of an arbitrator’s award in 1999. However, the Fire Department did not implement that provision until December 2007.
If the Fire Department were fully staffed, there would be 99 firefighters on the force, allowing 23 firefighters to a shift, with four separate shifts, Hallgring said. That would mean 92 firefighters assigned to the shifts. There are two administrators, the chief and Capt. Peter Kirwin. Five firefighters are assigned to the Fire Prevention Bureau under the city fire marshal.
Hallgring said the Department is down nine firefighters, so the force is at 90. That means there are either 20 or 21 assigned firefighters to a shift. If there are firefighters on vacation, out sick or on leave because of injury, the number on a shift easily can drop below the minimum staffing level, he said. When that happens, firefighters have to be called in on overtime to bring the shift up to the minimum level.
Hallgring said overtime costs have been higher than usual this fiscal year with the typical July-August-September vacations. He said he hopes to reduce thosecosts in the remainder of the fiscal year, which continues until June 30, 2010. The fiscal year began on July 1.
A shift refers to the number of firefighters at all three stations at any given time. Firefighters now work two consecutive 10hour day shifts, from 8 a.m. to 6 p.m., followed immediately by two consecutive 14-hour overnight shifts, 6 p.m. to 8 a.m. They get four consecutive days off before the schedule resumes. On average, a Newport firefighter works 42 hours a week.
Berkshire Advisors reported it would make more sense to follow the schedule used by many fire departments across the nation. Under this schedule, the firefighters would work one 24hour shift followed by two days off. Firefighters would then work on average 56 hours a week. There would be three separate shifts instead of four.
The benefit of a 24-hour shift is that firefighters would report to work fewer days each month, according to the report. “Requiring firefighters to work 56 hours a week does not create a burden for them because typically eight of the 24 hours they are working on each shift is spent sleeping,” the report said.
“Under the three-squad, 24hour schedule, 26 positions will need to be assigned to each squad for a total of 78 firefighter positions,” the report said. That is 14 fewer positions than the 92 currently needed to fully staff four shifts, and more people per shift would mean minimum staffing levels would be easier to maintain without overtime.
Hallgring said that proposal still is being discussed, but the increase in the number of hours worked would mean higher overtime costs and may not bring the hoped-for cost savings. He cited national regulations that set forth the number of hours that can be worked.
The members of Local 1080 of the International Association of Firefighters and the city have not been able to agree on a labor contract for several years now and have had one-year contracts awarded by an arbitrator. By law, an arbitrator does not award multi-year contracts.
The contract for fiscal 2007 is now in arbitration, Hallgring said. Both sides presented their cases and briefs to the arbitrator, who is expected to make an award in the upcoming weeks, he said.
The chief encouraged anyone with concerns about the Touro Street fire station or any other Fire Department issue to call him at 845-5911.
Send reporter Sean Flynn e-mail at Flynn@NewportRI.com.
