By Karin Hill
Jonesboro Sun

JONESBORO — Protection of the community, compliance with government standards and safety of his employees were factors considered by Fire Chief Leonard Jadrich as he cut $1.2 million from a practice budget.

What resulted in this exercise — designed to show what the department would look like without additional funds from a proposed public safety tax — was a reduction of 27 firefighters and a higher ISO rating. Higher ISO ratings mean higher insurance premiums for property owners.

“If we are forced to reduce staffing in the way indicated … ISO will definitely be reduced to one lower class with the strong possibility of a 2-point reduction, moving us from a class 3, enjoyed since 1984, to a class 4 or 5,” Jadrich said. “Insurance is a very competitive market, and there is no set scale increase for an insurance company to charge based on each ISO classification. Some insurance companies won’t even suggest what they might charge until the lower class is published. Anyway, somewhere around a 10 percent increase in insurance premiums for each additional ISO class would probably be a good guess.”

Other city officials have estimated the additional yearly cost for an average household to be $50-85 — about the same as the estimated increase they might pay in sales tax if the rate is increased as proposed.

The city will hold a special election Aug. 10 for voters to decide whether to raise the existing 1-cent city sales tax by a half-cent for a period of four years. The funds generated from this tax would be dedicated to police and fire operations.

The Fire Department has seven stations. One was added in 2007 to maintain the city’s class 3 ISO rating. Twelve firefighters were hired to operate the new station.

“We run seven engine companies out of seven fire stations with three men on each,” Jadrich said. “NFPA standards and guidelines suggest running the engine companies with a minimum of four men on each as well as OSHA requirements of having two men in the hazardous environment with two men outside for safety if the men inside go down. We can only achieve the ‘2-in-2-out’ ruling of OSHA with a 4-man engine company. So far to date, we can only manage 3-men engine companies.”

The department also runs two ladder trucks and one heavy rescue truck with only two men on each.

The Fire Marshal’s Office comprises three employees.

“If a reduction of 27 men is required to balance my share of the budget, I tried to keep the men in staffing positions, which still provides good protection for the citizens as well as safety concern for my men,” Jadrich said. “A reduction of staffing on the fire engines is entirely out of the question because of both NFPA and OSHA standards, but we will still be forced to reduce staffing levels as firefighters call in sick.”

The first place to look was with the ladder companies and rescue, as these are not primary fire-attack vehicles, Jadrich said.

“We work with two people on each of these trucks in three crews,” he said. “Firefighters work 24 hours on duty and then are off for 48 hours. A crew will cover the first 24 hours, then B crew covers the next 24 hours and then finally C crew covers the next 24 hours; and then the cycle is repeated. Shutting down one ladder truck would reduce six positions, the next ladder six more positions, and then the rescue will save six more positions. Reducing the two ladders and one rescue would save 18 positions, leaving another nine positions to reduce.”

The next step would require the closing of a station housing and running 3-men engine companies. With 3-man crews on three 24-hour rotations, that makes another nine.

“After all this is accomplished, I would have to move two men from the Fire Marshal’s Division back to shift work to help cover vacation time and sick time to maintain some sort of 3-men engine company minimum staffing level,” Jadrich said. “This move will not totally cover the sick and vacation time; I will be forced to [pay] additional overtime or run short some days with 2-men engine companies.”

Jadrich said he hopes this new manpower arrangement would provide citizens an adequate level of protection, but it would require flexibility.

“Obviously if we need a ladder. Someone will have to go back to a station and get the ladder, and the total number of firefighters available on each shift will be reduced by nine,” he said.

Currently there are 112 firefighters — 35 men on two crews and 36 men on one crew. The administration is made up of the chief, one assistant chief, one chief training officer, one chief fire marshal and two firefighters.

Other services that would probably be cut include semi-annual commercial business inspections, which are required to maintain ISO points.

“Not doing the inspections will reduce our ISO points in that category,” Jadrich said. “No one else can do the inspections for us.”

The department also would drop the fire hydrant maintenance program. In July 2009 the city approved a contract with City Water and Light regarding hydrant maintenance. At the time Jadrich said CWL had maintained the fire hydrants for the past 15 years, but the department wanted to perform the routine maintenance for approximately 2,600 fire plugs.

In exchange, CWL agreed to give the Fire Department $150,000 to help the city pay for modernization of dispatching equipment. That was done in the fall.

Jadrich said the duty might return to CWL.

In their sales tax proposal, city administrators said the proposed staff reductions would set the department back more than a decade, and the ladder and rescue truck programs would be set back nearly 20 years in terms of service levels.