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East St. Louis, Illinois is one of those fire departments that is extremely underfunded and understaffed. Like Highland Park, Michigan and some other departments we have featured, it responds and handles structure fires with a very small number of overworked and poorly equipped firefighters. As bad as it is, Rob Schield tells us it’s about to get a lot worse. Click here to watch this nicely produced video showing what Rob and his fellow firefighters face on the fireground and throughout the the city. Here’s some of what Rob wrote about the video:
With over 150 firefighters that used to protect this city, only 53 remain due to budget cuts. Unfortunately the East St. Louis fire department is facing laying off 22 more firefighters in May 2013 which is extremely dangerous.
Most fire departments respond up to 5 engines, 2 Chiefs and 15 firefighters to a house fire. Right now only 2 engines and 6 firefighters respond to a structure or house fire in East St. Louis EVERYDAY which is well below the number required by the NFPA. This is not to mention the other fire calls that come in. If layoffs occur, that number could fall to 3 firefighters and 1 engine which will be catastrophic.
Also on STATter911 …
- Helmet-cam: House fire in East St. Louis, IL. – October 21, 2012
- Helmet-cam video: House burns twice, a year apart, in East. St. Louis, IL. – May 4, 2013
- Helmet-cam video: Timing is everything. Evacuation order came just in time at East St. Louis house fire. – January 13, 2013
- Helmet-cam: Highland Park, Michigan house fire. – July 12, 2012
Comments
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On Dec. 3, 2010, in Keokuk, Iowa, 3 firefighters perished while trying to rescue 3 children from a burning home. There were a total of 6 firefighters who made the initial response to that fire. East St. Louis, as well as some other communities, face the same thing daily, and civic leaders threaten to make things worse.
At what point do we as a profession say enough is enough? We are brave, but we’re not stupid. Why should we continue to risk our lives to rescue those who don’t care enough to send quality leaders to city hall? I know, it’s for the children, but we ought to make defensive ops the norm when they won’t allow us to have NFPA minimum staffing. Look at Detroit, Washington, DC, and now East St. Louis. Reduce firefighters, cops, and medics to save the budget. Yet how much money is wasted daily on conferences, dinners, fancy meeting rooms, etc, etc, etc??? God bless all those who struggle with such poor support.
I am fortunate. My city and county fund us wonderfully, and support us in all ways. I wish others could experience how great that feels.
I need to qualify my statement above. Because I live in a well-supported fire dept, I am able to say things like “Enough is enough”. I don’t comprehend the city problems of insufficient budget, reducing manpower and the like. I cannot see things through your eyes. Therefore when I say “Enough is enough”, I don’t have solutions for the budget shortfalls. I am simply reacting to a lousy situation that you face and I don’t. I wish someone out there had some answers, cuz I sure don’t……
While I agree that this is a tragic situation and I feel for the Brothers on the job there, I am afraid this will become the new normal in urban areas where you have more people taking out of the system than are putting in. Cities like Detroit will not survive when over half the population is on public assistance and pay no taxes. It takes money to run a fire department. I hope I am wrong! Stay safe Brothers!
I have to agree with Fire21. And when does the actions of the City leaders of these depressed cities concerning public safety become criminal, if it isn’t already. I would say we should take half the money spent on aid to foreign countries and spend the money here, but I fear that it would disappear due to corruption and wouldn’t be spent where it is needed. I don’t know what the answer is. The only thing I can say for sure is, Stay Safe Brothers. Do your best to go home to your families in one piece at the end of your shift.
Firefighters must adapt their tactics to the staffing available. A 6 man response is the norm in much of Europe. A 9 man response is the normal first alarm in cities as big as London, UK (8 Million).
6 FFs gives you
Incident Commander
Pump Operator
Team 1 (Entry)
Team 2 (RIG / Support)
With limited staffing, tactics must first be defensive: Instead of a full frontal assault, the enemy must be weakened with transitional (small like KTF or large like Blitz) attacks, confined and controlled by pressurizing compartments and establishing mechanically-powered vent tracks. With an agressive application of these techniques, the fire can be quickly controlled and the building ventilated before a conventional search could even be underway.
It takes considerable knowledge just to realize the extent of your own ignorance.
Thomas Sowell
Read more at http://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/quotes/t/thomassowe371253.html#fxishbkZBUXs10Sb.99
You don’t even have the courage to directly contradict me. You can only passively-aggressively post links about knowledge. How am I supposed to take you seriously?
@ Commenter: Some comments aren’t worth directly contradicting as you put it. I think yours fits rather nicely into that category. Cheers!
There needs to be a means to fund fire protection.
My greatest gripe about Free Trade Agreements, is that it sends the manufacturing base out of the country (Mexico, China, etc.). That translates into loss of US jobs. That results in underemployment and unemployment.
Many industrial based cities are layed to ruins, here in the US. Now the tax base is broke and services will suffer.
Fire protection is one of those essential services that gets cut.
Do not kid yourself. If you think you are from a well funded department, look at where your municipality (city, county, etc.) is getting their funding. Is it from the normal tax base or are they issuing bonds to keep the municipality afloat?
Borrowing has gotten many municipalities into the red. Stay safe out there and help repeal Free Trade Agreements. Your job may depend on the manufacturing sector, because your local tax base needs it to pay your salary.
East St. Louis has been in the dumper since the 1970s. Why is this “news” to anyone else? They have less fires and layoffs then many other cities then many more we can mention. Don’t blame the politicians when there is no tax base. Looks like the new idea is to make a video from a helmet cam.