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FAQ

Olean Professional Fire Fighters Local 1796
Answers to Common Questions

Introduction:

This paper is designed to offer factual statistics and operating procedures of the Olean Fire Department (OFD). Statistics that are utilized in this document will be cited preceding or following each statistic for easy reference.

Purpose:

The Olean Fire Department has been discussed more frequently than any other City of Olean Department. Some of the comments that have been made, referencing the Olean Fire Department, are incorrect or misconceptions utilized to slant public opinion of a department that offers “one of the best Fire/EMS delivery systems in the State of New York” (Henry Storch, M.D. Olean Times Herald 2007). This paper will answer some of the frequent questions and misconceptions that have been offered up in the public forum. The Olean Firefighters chose this format to answer common questions to free up time in the public forum to address other issues. The Olean Fire Department is available to answer questions that you may have by contacting the Chief of the Olean Fire Department at 376-5609.

Misconceptions and Vital Statistics:

One commonly addressed item is that of a declining population base and rising employment numbers of Olean Firefighters. The following statistical data was compiled through the U.S. Census Bureau and was attained at the Olean Public Library. The Olean Fire Department employment numbers were attained through public records that are kept by the Chief of the Olean Fire Department. Olean Fire Department run volumes/responses research was compiled through daily log books, dispatch records, and the National Fire Incident Reporting System (NFIR). This information is available through the Chief of the Fire Department.

The common year that has been referenced by the public and some of the Common Council members is 1975. Purportedly, this was Olean’s population zenith of 25,000 people and that the Olean Fire Department employed 24 firefighters. As you can see from the following table, the City of Olean suffered its largest population decline (2,570) between 1960 and 1970; also the City of Olean employed 46 firefighters in 1975 and responded to 1,106 calls. Other vital information to note is that the Olean Fire Department did not offer ambulance transportation until 1957 and did not take on the responsibility of Code Enforcement until 1988. Also the scope and delivery of ambulance operations changed immensely in the early 1980s when DOT/DOH guidelines recommended treating emergent conditions pre-hospitally instead of loading and quickly transporting the sick and injured.

As you can see in the five decades that have been posted, that it is true the population has decreased, but the number of Olean firefighters has remained stable at around 40 men and women. The other fact to make note of is that run volumes have increased dramatically over that same time frame. The OFD also offers the public more services such as Code Enforcement, Public Education, Fire Prevention, Arson/Fire Investigation (shared service with Olean Police), and Advanced Life Support Ambulance.

The second discussed topic is comparing the Olean Fire Department with other municipalities across the State of New York. While it is true that some municipalities do not provide transporting ambulance services, (See Appendix A for fire-based transporting agencies) the key to note here is that revenue generated from ambulance fees offset the cost of operating a fire department. In the absence of that, the municipality is paying the full budget line of the fire department. The reason that paid fire departments are a positive draw to area business and industry is that they receive lower insurance premiums due to the paid fire department being located in their city or close to their facility. The following table shows several fire departments in New York that are similar in demographic to the City of Olean. The following numbers do not include Code Enforcement personnel because some municipalities do not include this service with the fire department. These statistics were compiled through each municipality’s official web site and the New York State Professional Firefighters Association research survey conducted in July 2005.


Ambulance

These statistics show a firefighter per civilian ratio in the Olean Fire Department as 1 firefighter for every 430.6 citizens. In comparison, the other city’s average 1 firefighter for every 363.8. As you can see, Olean has fewer firefighters per civilian and many of the other departments have no means of offsetting their budgets as we do through ambulance billing.

The third topic for discussion is the City of Olean’s Fire-based EMS system. The reason for smaller municipalities to provide this service is to offset department costs. The City of Olean Fire Department recoups approximately 500,000 to 600,000 of its budget costs through ambulance responses. The money that is collected from billing goes into the City of Olean’s general fund. The ambulance, incidentally, is the largest non-tax revenue generator and the fourth largest on the revenue side overall. The City of Olean does contribute 8.5% of its ambulance billing for the purchasing of new ambulances. In this manner, the onus of replacing ambulances is removed from the taxpayer.

If the City were to outsource the ambulance you would still have a fire engine responding to ambulance calls and the City of Olean would not recoup any monies to offset the service. The City would lose this 500,000 to 600,000 dollars in revenue, may pay for an outside agency to cover the ambulance, and the Olean Fire Department would still be responding manpower and services with no monies to offset operations that are required. Retired Fire Chief John Gibbons wrote: “Revenues generated by the ambulance are an offset to the general budget. The argument can be made that every time we don’t provide a service that we are able to do, we are costing the taxpayer money to maintain that service.”

The following revenue side numbers are taken from the City of Olean’s 2007-2008 budget:

The fourth topic is Olean Fire Department operating procedures for emergency responses. The most debated topic is “why does the fire engine go with the ambulance on every call?” (citizen quote). This is incorrect because there are several criteria that a dispatcher will use to determine whether or not to send a fire engine with the ambulance. These criteria are based on pre-approved guidelines/protocols that are written by EMS officials and approved by a Medical Doctor. This type of dispatching is done all across the country. The ambulance and fire engine respond on calls that are termed Advanced Life Support Criteria. Examples of this type of call are:

These types of calls are when you see a fire engine and ambulance responding with lights and sirens. Under other criterion the ambulance will respond lights and sirens alone or with no lights and no sirens. Many citizens would be unaware of the latter.

The next group of statistics (referenced in Appendix B) is taken from the NFIRS software program that is used by fire departments to log their responses with the State of New York and the Federal Government. You can see, from Appendix B, the OFD response numbers have increased and the ambulance responds alone more than half of the time, therefore the fire engine is not with the ambulance on all calls.

The fifth topic of discussion is that the staffing should be increased during the day and decreased at night. When comparing the two shifts that the OFD operates: in 2006 day personnel responded to 50.1% of the calls and night personnel responded to 49.9% of all calls. So far in 2007, day personnel have responded to 46.1% of all calls and night personnel 53.9% of calls. The fire department responds to a diverse range of calls. Until we can figure out when somebody’s house will catch fire or when someone will suffer a medical emergency we have to staff for the volume of calls that we receive.

The sixth topic of discussion is one quote that has been stated by a Council Member, “what difference does one or two minutes make in an emergency,” in regards to the Olean Fire Department’s response time. Incidentally the Olean Fire Department maintains an average response time of three minutes or less. American Heart Association, through Advanced Cardiac Life Support, recommends a Basic Life Support Unit on scene within 4 minutes and Advanced Life Support on scene within 8 minutes. The NFPA statistic for fire growth states that a fire will double in size for every minute of burn time. The American Heart Association (AHA) recognizes that the brain will die without oxygen within 6 minutes. That being said, when your family is trapped upstairs in a house fire or a loved one collapses in cardiac arrest what is the value of a minute then? To further illustrate the value of time, according to AHA statistics, when you collapse in cardiac arrest your chance of survival decreases 8 to 12 % for every minute without resuscitation (AHA, Brady Text for EMT-Basic). The Olean Fire Department is in the business of time. We are ready 24 hours a day/365 days per year and our safety staffing (“manning”) allows us to efficiently handle the volume of emergencies in the City of Olean effectively. Anything less will add minutes onto our response and decrease the level of care we provide.

These statistics are not doom and gloom, they are fact versus fiction. There have been several slanderous statements against the Olean Fire Department and now you have cited statistics and facts instead of personal opinions and uneducated interpretations.

Another frequented topic is that of Olean Firefighters’ salaries and benefits. Research taken from Paid or Combination Fire Department surveys that were conducted in July 2005 by the New York State Firefighters’ Association lists all Paid Fire Departments. The contract salaries for 2004-2005 were used to conduct this survey. The salaries referenced are base and top pay rates at the firefighter level and do not incorporate overtime, shift differential, EMS level, longevity, or other fringe benefits. This survey is comprised of 104 fire departments across New York State. Only 85 departments had complete data regarding these figures so those are the statistics utilized.

The average starting salary for a firefighter in these 85 municipalities was $31,291.13 as compared to an Olean Firefighter/EMT which was $30,113. The average state top pay salary was $47,781.38 as compared to Olean’s $45,032. So, despite what you have heard in public comment, the Olean Fire Department is in-line with 85 other municipalities across the state and, again, the Olean Fire Department budget is offset by ambulance and code enforcement revenues, many municipalities are not.

The other misconception regarding OFD benefits is retirement wages and perks. A retired Olean Firefighter receives a salary, from the State of New York of up to 50% of their final three years average salary. The second retirement rumor is that firefighter’s receive health insurance on retirement. No current Olean Firefighter will receive any stipend or payment towards a health insurance plan when they retire. Some other departments in the City of Olean receive such a benefit, but the Olean Firefighters do not. The only payment that a City of Olean Firefighter receives from the City of Olean, when they retire, is from hours worked that were not paid to the employee over the previous years.

Another misconception is that volunteer fire departments are free services. What people are not telling you is that on top of your municipal taxes, if a volunteer fire department is formed, a new tax district will be created with a board of fire commissioners that will assess a fire tax on top of your current Olean City taxes. You can check assessed fire taxes at the Cattaraugus County Government’s web site of Real Property Taxes.

Conclusions:

The Olean Fire Department is a highly skilled and compassionate service that is there for you whether in an emergency or non-emergency setting. Some of the comments made by misinformed citizens or elected officials, either in public forum or on independent talk shows, have been skewed or statistically ignorant. If you, as a concerned citizen, have any questions or need help finding statistical data please contact the Olean Fire Department and we will give you the correct public information or where to find additional sources. There are many municipalities today that are trying to achieve what the City of Olean already has to offer, a complete emergency services organization. Many municipalities are trying to get ambulance transportation into their fire department to offset the costs of running a fire department. As a matter of fact, according to The National Survey, Fire Department Operations in the U.S. and Canada, “45.16% of Fire Departments in the 0 – 99,000 population range have fire-based EMS transport services.” This number is on the rise.

In today’s world taxpayers expect more for their taxes. Members of the Olean Fire Department are no longer just firefighters but EMTs, Paramedics, Hazardous Materials Technicians, Fire Investigators, Public Education Specialists, and Code Enforcement officials. In the 1960’s and 1970’s ambulance operations consisted of loading a patient into a hearse-style Cadillac and driving as quickly as possible to the closest emergency room. Today skilled Firefighter/Medics deliver oxygen, ECG monitoring, IV and medication therapy, intubation, defibrillation, and pacemakers to the citizens of our community. There are dozens of people in our community that would not be alive today if it were not for the rapid response of the Olean Fire Department. Also, fire fighting is different today than it was in the 60’s and 70’s. With the onset of plastics and polymers being used in the manufacture of everything that we own and buildings being of lighter construction, fires burn hotter and quicker than ever before. Not only does the fire department have to worry about the fire-involved house but also the neighbor’s houses and dwellings as well. The Olean Fire Department is set up to deliver multiple services for any type of emergency in the City of Olean.

Appendix A

Paid Fire-based Ambulance Transportation

Barnard

Batavia

Dunkirk (Secondary)

Fredonia (Secondary)

Henrietta

Jamestown (Secondary)

Lockport

Olean

Salamanca

Ilion

Little Falls

Manlius

Oswego

Tully

Arlington

Dutch/Fair

LaGrange

Troy

Watervliet-Arsen

Binghamton

Hornell

Norwich

Long Beach

Melville

FDNY

Note: This years negotiations between the Buffalo Fire Department and the City of Buffalo is creating a new article in their bargaining agreement that reads as follows (This is an excerpt from the proposed Buffalo City and Buffalo Fire Department Contract termed 2002 – 2012): “The City and the Union agree to establish a joint committee of three City representatives and three Union representatives to examine the feasibility of the Buffalo Fire Department becoming the sole provider of Emergency Medical Services within the City limits or other mutually agreed upon districts.”

Appendix B

OFD Volume

Engine v. Ambulance Responses

2004

OFD Volume

Engine v. Ambulance Responses
2005

OFD Volume

Engine v. Ambulance Responses
2006

Appendix C

List of References Utilized in Paper

Olean Times Herald

Polk City Directory

U.S. Census Bureau

National Fire Incident Reporting Software

Olean City Fire Dispatch Run Numbers

Olean Fire Department Captain’s Log

Olean Fire Department Archives

New York State Professional Firefighters’ Association Surveys

American Heart Association Advanced Cardiac Life Support Text

Brady EMT-Basic Text

Brady EMT-Paramedic Text

American Heart Association Basic Life Support Provider Text

International Fire Service Training Association Manuals referencing NFPA guideline.