News

Base fire officials optimistic about firefighter cuts

  • Published
  • By Amanda Creel
  • 78 ABW/PA
Recent Air Force-wide active duty cuts will change the composition of the Robins Fire and Emergency Services.

The fire department, which is presently a mixture of civil service and active-duty firefighters, will soon say goodbye to its active-duty counterparts and transform to an all civilian force.

The cuts are a result of Program Budget Decision 720, which is an Air Force effort to recapitalize by cutting manpower.

"The Air Force had to modernize to stay the dominant power in the world," said Paul Laster, an employee in the Warner Robins Air Logistics Center civilian personnel manpower office, adding that the goal of the PBD 720 cuts was to free up money to help fund different modern weapon projects.

The cuts resulted in about 33,000 active-duty positions being cut Air Force-wide in various career fields, 697 of which are being cut out of the firefighter force. The Air Force will also cut an additional 204 civilian firefighters for a total of 901 firefighter cuts.

Robins presently has 82 job authorizations for firefighters and the department will be reduced to 67 firefighter authorizations by January 2008. The reduction of firefighters will include the removal of 35 military positions and the addition of 20 civilian positions -- a total loss of 15 positions.

Both Donald Striejewske, Robins Fire and Emergency Services chief, and Lt. Col. Steve Keller, 778th Civil Engineer Squadron commander, agree the base community will see no change in the level of service they receive. The firefighters will not only continue responding to fire calls and assisting with emergency medical calls, but will also continue to complete fire inspections and enforcement and offer public education to the community about fire safety and prevention.

As Air Force fire protection goes from risk avoidance to risk management, which means the Air Force is restructuring fire protection capability to one significant incident at a time versus the traditional two simultaneous responses, one of the many concerns is a decrease in manning in the fire stations during shifts and a reduction of firefighters responding to fire calls. However, Robins fire officials worked hard to restructure the organization to allow them to retain a minimum of 19 firefighters on the floor during each shift to man dispatches to reported emergencies.

However, Rusty Adams, president of the International Association of firefighter's local federal chapter 720, disagrees. He feels the changes will cause a slower full response to fire incidents on the base.

One of the issues Mr. Adams has with the cuts is the decrease in trucks responding to initial alarms. Before the cuts, an alarm would result in the dispatch of one engine with four firefighters, one ladder truck with four firefighters, one rescue truck with three firefighters and one command truck with a chief fire officer.

As a result of the manpower cuts, now an alarm will initially dispatch just one truck to the area for assessment. Once it is determined the alarm is a real emergency, the other vehicles will be dispatched to the area.

Mr. Adams said by not sending the entire response team at one time, the full response is delayed if it is a real emergency.

Chief Striejewske said not all alarms are handled with the one truck response, such as when an alarm is accompanied by several phone calls reporting a fire. He said by not sending a full response to each incident until they are verified by firefighters as a real emergency, they are more prepared to handle simultaneous events where the first alarm could be a false alarm, but the second could be a real incident.

Firefighters are working on is reducing false alarms on the base, especially those caused by malfunctioning or faulty equipment. The fire department is also working to reduce concern over the manpower cuts by maintaining mutual aid agreements, which are agreements between local fire fighting agencies and the base to support each other during emergency situations if the need arises.

"My goal is to make sure the mission continues even if we have to utilize outside resources," Chief Striejewske said.

One of the reasons the firefighters are able to reduce their force as part of the civilian transformation is because civilians do not have deployment responsibilities, which allows them to contribute year-round to the base's fire protection.

"The productivity of a military member is lower than a civilian because they have deployment commitments," Colonel Keller said.

But, Mr. Laster assures members of the community just because military firefighters will not be deploying from Robins does not mean the Air Force will still not be equipped to deploy firefighters.

It is important for the community to realize the fire stations have never been 100 percent manned because there is always a group deployed or on temporary duty assignments, Colonel Keller said.

Even Mr. Adams admits because the firefighters are transforming to an all civilian force and no longer responsible for filling deployment slots there is some room to trim the manning of the department, but he said 15 is more than they could afford to spare.

Though the 15 positions are being cut as a part of the transformation, none of the military members will be losing their jobs; most will receive a permanent change of station.

The chief said one of the reasons the Air Force is able to downsize the Air Force-wide firefighter force is because of their commitment to public education.

"The Air Force has put themselves out of business by doing such a good job with the fire prevention program," Chief Striejewske said.

Colonel Keller and Chief Striejewske agreed the commitment to the safety of the firefighters who serve the Robins community will not falter and will continue to be their top priority as the cuts are implemented. The department will continue to meet the National Fire Protection Agency standards and the Occupational Safety and Health Administration "two in, two out" rules.