St. Paul Saves Rescue Squad, Benches Fire Truck

To save the St. Paul fire department's Rescue Squad 2, the city will "brown out" a fire engine.

Mayor Chris Coleman recently adopted that recommendation from a city taskforce. During the budget process last year, the specialty rescue squad had been in danger of being dissolved.

After firefighters and city council members raised concerns that decommissioning Rescue Squad 2 would leave a hole in emergency response, the firefighters' union asked that a committee be convened to find other solutions, and the mayor's office and Fire Chief Tim Butler organized a taskforce.

"We had to take the lesser of two evils," said Mike Smith, International Association of Fire Fighters Local 21 president and a member of the committee, of the recommendation to keep Rescue Squad 2 going and brown out Engine 13 for the rest of the year.

Engine 13 operates out of Station 23 at 1929 Como Ave. and serves the Como, St. Anthony and Hamline-Midway neighborhoods. The station is home to two other rigs -- Engine 23 and Medic 23 -- that will remain in service.

No firefighters will be laid off, and Butler said he plans to relocate a rig and firefighters to Ward 4, where Station 23 is located.

Engine 13 was browned out for half of 2011 because of staffing shortages, Butler said. The department selected the engine because it had the fewest average daily calls for any fire rig, he said.

"From a citizen's perspective it probably isn't much of a change," Butler said of browning out Engine 13. "From the perspective of our ability to protect citizens from the risk of fire, it definitely represents an asset we won't have."

Firefighters worry that browning out Engine 13 will mean it takes firefighters longer to get to calls, Smith said. Butler said it will have an impact and the department will "continue to assess what that response-time impact is and adjust as we have to."

It's a matter of weighing the risks and "a constant battle to try to balance the budget with the services we provide," Butler said.

City Council Member Russ Stark, who represents Ward 4 and served on the budget committee, said he did not hear from constituents with concerns about fire department response times last year, when Engine 13 was browned out.

But Stark said he heard from a person who had noticed last year that Engine 13 was quick to arrive to a large fire at The Burlington apartments near Energy Park Drive and Lexington Parkway, and was happy to see it.

Butler's goal is to have two fire crews at each of the city's 15 stations, where possible. He plans to move one of the three crews from Station 1 at 1000 W. Seventh St. to Ward 4 on June 30, but said Tuesday, May 29 he didn't want to publicly detail the change until he had communicated it to staff and elected officials.

Engine 13 is not being decommissioned -- the fire department still has the vehicle and it could be used in emergency situations, Butler said.

Butler's initial proposal to put Rescue Squad 2 on the chopping block came last year, when Coleman gave him a preliminary $1 million budget-cut target, said Todd Hurley, St. Paul finance director.

Ultimately, the fire department's 2012 budget of $62 million was $490,000 more than the 2011 budget, with the increase funding inflation, Hurley said.

Browning out Engine 13, as well as other taskforce recommendations, will save the department $180,000 this year, according to Hurley.

Rescue Squad 2 is one of three rescue squads in the city, and they handle emergency rescues and extrications.

Another recommendation the taskforce made, which Coleman accepted, is for Rescue Squad 3 to operate with a four-person crew instead of five. Butler said he plans to pair the squad with another company to provide additional support during rescues.

The budget taskforce also recommended ways for the department to raise money, including providing scheduled medical transport -- having ambulances bring patients from hospitals to nursing homes or assisted care centers. Coleman said in a letter to taskforce participants that the fire department should begin that work, and Butler said they would.

Budget planning for 2013 is already underway. Coleman has directed all department heads to prepare initial plans accommodating 3-percent and 6-percent budget reductions for next year for "an early platform for all departments to identify their top priorities for discussion with myself and the City Council," the mayor wrote.

Mara H. Gottfried can be reached at 651-228-5262. Follow her attwitter.com/MaraGottfried ortwitter.com/ppUsualSuspects .

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