New shift structures were recently approved for firefighters, EMS workers and other department staff as part of the merger of the Pearland Fire and EMS Departments. The current shift schedule is 24 hours-on-duty with 48 hours off. When the consolidation of the departments are complete nest year, the structure will change to 48 hours-on-duty and 96 hours (four days) off.
The new policy also specifies every fire truck sent to a fire will be required to have a minimum of four people. However, the question of whether the fourth person should be a volunteer, part-time or full-time paid firefighter proved to be the more-difficult decision for city officials.
Members of the Pearland City Council discussed the various options with City Manager Bill Eisen and Fire Chief Vance Riley at a council meeting held Monday (Nov. 11).
"I think the fourth position should be a combination of full-time, part-time and volunteer firefighters." Councilmember Scott Sherman said. "You can always go back and adjust the program and the plan so I'm not sure why you'd start out with four full-time employees."
Other council members questioned if volunteers were trained and certified and wanted to know if they were dependable. Fire Chief Vance Riley said there had been few problems with volunteers not being reliable.
"They have to complete a certain number of shifts each month to be a member of the department," Riley said.
If volunteers don't pull the minimum number of shifts, they are put on probation and eventually let go if it continues to be an issue.
As for training, a new in-house fire academy would be put in place next year as part of the department consolidation, which could potentially offer volunteers the additional benefit of becoming certified by the Pearland Fire and EMS Department.
"Our volunteers are trained and certified. So far, we haven't had any volunteers ask about attending the fire academy next year," Chief Riley said. "But I guess we could arrange that if there were volunteers interested in additional training."
The department currently has 16 volunteers with another 13 members going through the new member training program, Riley said. However, an increase is expected as a part-time staff position to recruit additional volunteers had recently been created using grant funding.
"Are we having any issues with getting that fourth man?" Councilmember Tony Carbone asked. "My understanding is we are staffing them with volunteers and/or part-time firefighters."
"The fourth position is currently staffed with half part-time and half volunteer. It varies month-to-month as to whether there are enough volunteers to pull the shifts," Riley said. "But, even with part-timers we have a hard time making sure that spot is always filled. "
Carbone said he wasn't comfortable sending the trucks out with only three firefighters.
"That's why I am in favor of four full-time employees so we know that spot is filled. I am not looking to squeeze out the volunteers but when they roll up on scene I'd to have all four guys there," he said.
City Manager Bill Eisen said there would still be a place for volunteers even if four full-time firefighters were required on each truck.
"What would happen is the volunteer firefighters would be riding as a fifth person," Eisen said. "But, in my view, it would diminish the role of the volunteers if you go with the approach there has to be four full-time firefighters per apparatus."
Chief Riley was asked about the option of having volunteers riding as the fifth person in the truck.
"It makes it a little bit tight in the truck. However, they would still have an air pack and the radios just like normal," he said. "But, in the short term we would be limiting volunteers to some extent."
There were pros and cons on both sides of the issue, Riley said.
"One of the cons is right now two of the stations don't have enough sleeping quarters," he said. "When we get more stations there would be other options."
Pearland has six fire stations, three of which have sleeping quarters and are staffed 24 hours-a-day.
City officials have discussed future plans to renovate station three to include sleeping quarters. Located at 1801 E. Broadway on the city's east side, the station is currently used mainly as a storage facility.
"I don't want to squeeze out the volunteers but I do want to make sure we not having to hold people over which I think has happened in the past," Councilmember Keith Ordeneaux said. "I want to make sure we have four people on the truck for the safety of our fire fighters and our residents and still leave a place for the volunteers. But as we grow I think it is important to have those positions fully staffed."
During a council workshop last October, city officials also considered a four-shift schedule with 24 hours on-duty and 72 hours (three days) off. According to agenda documents, an employee survey showed EMS workers favored the four-shift structure.
Councilmember Susan Sherrouse said she thought asking EMS workers to answer emergency calls for 48 hours at a stretch was too stressful and advocated for the four-shift structure, using volunteers and part-time staff to take the fourth position in the truck.
"My perspective is with three shifts, you do have burnout. When you're running that ambulance it's non-stop at times; you don't have time to rest," she said. "I think it is important for retention and the safety of our citizens and our first responders that we need to have four shifts, especially since we have the opportunity to have volunteers to help us augment. We don't have that in other cities. We have a very strong volunteer tradition here. I think by augmenting that and by going to four shifts is the logical thing to do."
Councilmember Sherman countered by saying fire department officials at the workshop had said 48-hour shifts did not pose any safety risk.
"I asked this question early on in the process, that is if there are any safety concerns or statistical evidence related to whether we went with one option over the other. I specifically asked if we were putting our homeowners or fire fighters at risk and the answer I got was no; there was not a safety concern," Sherman said. "So, any implication that we are going with a lesser option that may relate to safety issues with firefighters or homeowners is not related to any information we have received here. I want to make sure that is still correct."
"Yes," Chief Riley answered.
To deal with the issue of stress and burnout among EMS workers, additional personnel would be hired next year to allow workers to rotate throughout the shifts, officials said.
Councilmember Carbone asked how often trucks were sent to fires with only three people.
"I couldn't say off the top of my head, but I would throw out an estimate of 40 percent of the time," Chief Riley said.
Carbone then made a motion to amend the ordinance to go to a three-shift schedule with four full-time firefighters.
The motion failed by a vote of three-to-two. Voting in favor: Carbone and Sherrouse. Voting against were Sherman, Ordeneaux and Councilmember Greg Hill.
"At this point, it sounds like we are shifting to the minimum and I don't agree with that; I don't think that is the right move when you're dealing with fire and EMS," Carbone said.
According to agenda documents, hiring additional firefighters to fill the fourth spot would add $1 million or more to next year's budget.
"I don't have the feeling that the budget can stand the four-shift option without a tax increase looking at future needs," Councilmember Ordeneaux said. "Unfortunately, it comes down to a matter of budget and trying to do the best job with the least amount of money."
The city manager said a compromise arrangement was also an option.
"It doesn't have to be an either-or position. For example one station could have four full-time firefighters and one station could have a combination of three full-time firefighters with the fourth spot to be filled by part-time and volunteers depending on the number of volunteers we have," Eisen said. "It doesn't have to be all-or-nothing in terms of having four full-time fire fighters at every station. It can be some mixture of the two."
After the end of the discussion, Councilmember Sherman made a motion to go with the three-shift structure with the option of a volunteer, part-time or full-time firefighter as the fourth person on calls. The motion passed three-to-two. Voting in favor: Sherman, Hill and Ordeneaux. Voting against: Carbone and Sherrouse.
