FIRE CHIEF BREUNIG PROPOSES REDUCING EMERGENCY RESPONSE ASSETS AND 150% INCREASE IN ADMINISTRATIVE STAFF

Fire Chief Breunig proposes to increase the administrative staff of the fire department from 2 to 5.  Currently the administrative staff consists of 1 Deputy Chief in addition to the Chief of the department.  Now the Chief is adding 3 more positions to the administrative staff.  This is 4 new positions added to the administrative staff since Chief Breunig took the position of Fire Chief little more than 1 year ago.  Chief Breunig left out a few important effects of his proposal.

The operational side of the department is being reduced from 4 fire response vehicles to 3 between the 15th of September and May 15th.  This is a reduction in the vehicles responding to fires and medical emergencies.  The 3 new positions being added to the administrative staff will be taken from the firefighting side of the organization.  This is where the first misleading statement of the Fire Chief's proposal is not fully explained.  The Fire Chief stated that the new administrative staff would be available to "drop what they were doing to respond to incidents as needed."  This statement is misleading as it does not explain who would respond to an incident after these administrative employees have gone home for the day.  The Fire Chief did make a claim that the majority of fires occur during the day(before 5pm).  I find this claim difficult to believe and at best a play on odds.  If most fires occur during the day, I find the need for smoke detectors rather useless.  Smoke detectors are designed to wake a sleeping person to the event of a fire.  This brings me to the next change proposed by the Chief.

The Fire Chief wants to use these new positions to prevent fires through education.  I hardly think reducing the staffing of the firefighting part of fire department is necessary to provide education to the community.  The fire department currently does a great job of community education on fire and emergency related topics.  

The next part of Chief Beunig's proposal creates a fire inspection division in the fire department.  This inspection service is currently provided by state fire inspectors.  In the current climate of consolidation for cost savings I fail to see the logic in adding to local responsibility and cost if the state already provides this service.  As for revenue generation part of this proposal,  the fire department should be in the business of putting out fires and providing emergency services.  The proposal shows  revenue in future years and I am reluctant to believe political promises of revenue.  This revenue comes in the way of fines administered to local businesses.

The Chief did not explain if these 3 new position will be issued take home vehicles.  If the this is the case it appears to me that the fire department is turning into a very expensive paid volunteer department.  I want the professional fire department I have come to know living in Ocean City to be maintained.  I don't want this department's services reduced to make room for a growing bureaucracy of staff educating and fining the citizens.   No amount of education is going to stop all fires.  And when that fire comes, and it will come, I want all the staff dedicated to suppressing that fire and saving lives at all times of the day.  Including after 5 pm.     There are consequences for all changes.  This proposal is not an expansion of the total number of personal.  The chief is expanding positions in one part of the department, so by deductive reasoning he is reducing staff in another part of the department.  With this administrative staff growing and with it expenses.  It can be wondered how much overtime savings will be negated by the cost increases and bureaucracy that is expanding in the administrative staff.  

Did the mayor ask what the effects of this proposal would be?  It seems the mayor and fire chief are lockstep in the claim that this is not a reduction in services.  This is at best misleading after the entire proposal and its effects are exposed.  I want the same services in the winter that the visitors enjoy in the summer.  This proposal does not provide that service in the winter and even less service after 5pm.  I thought professional fire fighting was a 24 hour service.  Not anymore in Ocean City.  I encourage you to ask questions and find out what is happening in the fire department.  Make sure you get the whole story and not just the part the fire chief and mayor want to tell.