Click here to read the entire 1998 Baltimore City Paper article by Michael Anft and Van Smith
This is why I check out thewatchdesk.com. Someone using the screen name Otis Day found this 1998 article on the early to mid-1990s cut backs of fire stations and personnel for the Baltimore City Fire Department. The link to the Baltimore City Paper article is in a thread discussing the possible cut back of overtime for next year’s budget that could result in rotating closures of fire companies.
Without much of an overtime budget, Chief Jim Clack says he will be forced to leave shifts unfilled, which in turn will put fire companies out of service. This comes on top of fire equipment having to go out of service to man ambulances during “critical alerts”.
Having covered three rounds, in three different decades, of what union officials called “firehouse roulette” in Washington, DC, there is a lot of precedent you can point to indicating how this policy is likely to play out. In fact the City Paper article talks about a previous Baltimore City rotating closure policy:
In 1995 and ’96, BCFD tried to keep overtime costs down by closing some firehouses during certain shifts. Such “rotation closures” became controversial when fires broke out near firehouses that were temporarily shut down.
That’s exactly what happened each time in Washington. It is also what happened earlier this year when medic units were shut down because of Prince George’s County, Maryland furloughs.
True, these are fiscally much more difficult times than any but the eldest among us have seen. But it all comes down to how much heat the political leaders can take when the inevitable headlines appear.
Two pair: One team pictured in the 1998 Baltimore City Paper article is long gone. Half of the other team is still fighting the same battles.
Now back to the City Paper article. It focuses on how then Mayor Kurt Schmoke believed the department was bloated. Schmoke brought in a new fire chief and changed the make up and role of the Board of Fire Commissioners to hasten downsizing.
According to the article, in the 1970s the Baltimore City Fire Department had 60 engine companies, 30 truck companies and 11 battalions. When the article was written there was a combined total of 62 engines and trucks. Now, by my ciphering, there are 36 engines, and 19 trucks in 6 battalions.
The article provides a brief history of the department. It explains how they got to where they were in 1998. It also puts in perspective where they are now, ten years later.
One reality of where they are now is that the council member who made the following quote in 1998 is the mayor of the City of Baltimore:
“Constituents scream out more about crime than anything else,” council member Sheila Dixon (D-4th District) says. Where firefighting capacity is concerned, she says, “the issue is always brought up that we do have more than we need because the city’s population is down.”
1976 was the first of three rounds of rotating closures for DC. It happened again in the 80s and 90s.
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No Fire Chief with half of a care for the men and women under his or her command should offer to the politicos "rotating closures," "blackouts," or any other form of service cut. If the politicians are too scared to raise taxes and force people to pay for the actual value of the services provided, then let the politicians be the ones to make the closures. I hold membership in an IAFF Local who suggested to its membership that we should consider "rolling blackouts" to help the County save money. Shameful!!
What if you don't have the ability to raise taxes? Here is the option the fire chief will be given. Lay off personnel or find another way to reduce your budget. Taxpayers are not going to pay up or in this jurisdiction they are not allowed to raise taxes. Rotating closures may be the best option on the table. Times are tough, Chief's are going to have to make tough decisions, we should praise IAFF members that are working to save jobs.