ORANGE — In the wake of severe staffing problems, Orange Fire Department union members came before the Selectboard to issue a plea for wage increases to improve employee retention rates.
Local 4569 recommends increasing entry-level pay by $6 an hour, a 2.25% increase per step and a 3% increase per rank. The union also suggests doubling the hiring range to 30 miles to allow for a larger candidate pool.
“We’re in a crisis at the Fire Department and we’re extremely short-staffed right now,” firefighter/paramedic Dan Emerson told the Selectboard in Town Hall this week.
Emerson was joined by firefighter/EMT James Hopkins and Chief James Young. Emerson walked the members through a PowerPoint presentation controlled remotely by Alec Wade, the town’s community development director. Selectboard members praised the department and promised to work toward resolving this issue.
Emerson explained the Fire Department is also the host ambulance service for Orange, Wendell, Warwick, New Salem and Erving. The department covers about 100 square miles with two ALS ambulances.
“ALS is a paramedic-level ambulance. We run one paramedic and a basic (EMT). On occasion, when we’re lucky, we have two paramedics,” Emerson said, adding that some calls require two paramedics, with two ambulances. “Right now, under our current staffing, that doesn’t happen.”
When fully staffed, Emerson explained, the department has nine paramedics and three basic or advanced EMTs. However, the current staff includes three paramedics, four basic EMTs and one advanced EMT. Emerson explained an advanced EMT can administer intravenous fluid and some other interventions that a basic EMT cannot.
“Currently, we are four staff members short,” Emerson said. “Every shift has one paramedic that’s working. So, what that brings to the table is, if one paramedic needs a day off, or they get ill, personal time, the other two paramedics have to step up and either split the shift or they work a 48-hour shift, and work a ton of hours. It’s not the ideal situation.
“We’ve had a tremendous amount of turnover since December,” he continued. “People have left for greener pastures, more money. They’ve been honest about it.”
Emerson said when the presentation was put together, there had been 71 service calls lost, totaling $24,850 in lost revenue for the town, this year to date. Emerson said there were 10 more service calls lost over the past weekend. He told Selectboard members Jane Peirce, Tom Smith and Richard Sheridan that his department’s average response time to calls in Orange is now at least 14 minutes.
Due to staff shortages, he said the department fails to meet the national standard of a 90-second chute time — the period between when a call is dispatched and when an emergency vehicle begins to travel to its intended destination — for 30% of the year.
Emerson explained his department’s mutual aid partners are struggling, too. Athol Ambulance and Northfield EMS help out when possible, as does South County EMS in South Deerfield.
“We’re really worried about the staffing level and not being able to provide an adequate service for the town, the taxpayers,” he said. “It’s very worrisome for us. The numbers are pretty staggering.”
Emerson said 11 staff members have left the department over the past 10 years. One joined the U.S. Air Force and another became a teacher, but the other nine took firefighting jobs in other towns for more money. He said it costs $10,000 to hire, train and equip a firefighter. This means this loss of personnel has cost the town $110,000.
According to Emerson, entry-level employees at the Orange Fire Department earn $18 an hour, less than their counterparts in Athol, Belchertown, Greenfield, Erving, Rutland and Turners Falls, the other municipalities researched by the Orange Fire Department. And the average Orange Fire Department employee works about 55 hours per week, more than all those municipalities and their average of 45. Peirce said she has recently seen jobs at Burger King advertised for nearly that much.
Chief Young clarified that firefighter/paramedics are paid an additional 10% annual stipend, but their counterparts at departments with higher starting wages also get additional stipends.
Town Administrator Gabriele Voelker, seated next to the three firefighters, told the Selectboard she is very concerned about the health and welfare of the department’s members.
“They can’t sustain this,” she said. “It’s not humanly possible to sustain this kind of a schedule.”
Peirce agreed that changes are needed to ensure the well-being of firefighter/paramedics and the residents they respond to.
Smith commended the department and thanked members for the sacrifices they make.
“I’m sorry you have to go through this,” he said. “We’ve got to work harder to get better improvements for you guys, and for the town.”
Peirce explained a discussion of wages and potential increases would be held during an executive session.
Reach Domenic Poli at: dpoli@recorder.com or 413-772-0261, ext. 262.