Fragmented Fire/EMS Services a Safety Concern in St. Louis Area

Sept. 15--The fragmentation of fire protection in St. Louis and St. Louis County has led to inefficiencies, safety concerns and uneven funding and management, according to a study released Tuesday by a group studying the benefits of consolidating area governments.

The report was issued by Better Together, a St. Louis-based nonprofit studying possible benefits of regional cooperation, which has published a series of reports pointing to inefficiencies in public safety, public finance, public healthand economic development.

The study, the first of two the group plans to issue about fire and emergency services in greater St. Louis, points to disparities in the services provided among the 43 municipal fire departments and fire protection districts, which employ 2,250 people in 118 firehouses at a cost of $334 million per year.

Among the findings:

• There are also no standard operating procedures across departments. This can result in 43 different ways to potentially manage a fire and the potential for confusion if a department is called in to aid another at a fire scene.
• Only the St. Louis Fire Department operates its own fulltime hazmat team. County departments have to muster a hazmat response team from across the region, which can cost valuable time.
• Departments have no central location to repair vehicles, often sending equipment to out-of-state shops, which costs time and money and risks people's safety.
• The city and county operate two fire academies, and neither honors the validity of the other's academy.
• Poorer areas struggle to provide fire services, while wealthier areas have excellent fire protection.

The study comes at a time when fire districts across the region are in need of capital improvements.

"Fire protection and emergency medical services have been provided to the St. Louis region at the highest level possible despite systemic, structural problems in the region resulting from fragmentation," the study found. There are "better, more efficient ways to provide fire protection and emergency medical services that that circumvent the fragmentation of the St. Louis region."

The authors of the study praised the transparency and cooperation from fire districts, compared with its experience with municipal governments and police departments.

The bill from municipalities and police departments for providing public records were about $25,000, the study found, while the fire districts charged about $150.

Jeremy Kohler -- 314-340-8337

@jeremykohler on Twitter

jkohler@post-dispatch.com

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