Staff shortage closes fire stations

By Ed Runyan

Every second counts when there’s a fire, Warren’s fire chief said.

WARREN — First, budget-related staffing problems hit the Warren Police Department. Now they have hit the Warren Fire Department.

On Friday, Warren Fire Chief Kenneth Nussle was forced to close two of the city’s fire stations, on Atlantic Street Northeast and Parkman Road Northwest, because of six firefighters’ being off on vacation, three on sick leave and one on bereavement leave.

That brought manpower down to 12 firefighters plus a dispatcher — a number the department’s command staff has said deemed too few to man more than one fire station — the main one on South Street downtown, Nussle said.

Before July 1, the solution would have been to call firefighters out on overtime, but the city eliminated most overtime on July 1 to cope with a budget deficit estimated at $1.75 million.

Nussle said the Friday shift was uneventful, but it calls to mind the night of Dec. 31, 2000, when a fatal fire occurred on Williamsburg Street Northwest that also injured two Warren firefighters.

Nussle said the department was understaffed at the time because of budget constraints. There were 11 firefighters and a dispatcher on duty the day of the Williamsburg fire.

That day, it took firefighters five to six minutes to get to the fire from the main fire station instead of the expected two minutes from the Parkman Road station.

Nussle said eliminating that extra three to four minutes might have prevented the firefighters’ injuries and the death of resident Janet Provitt.

“Seconds count in firefighting, let alone minutes,” he said.

The command staff feels whenever the department has 13 or fewer firefighters (including one dispatcher), they should all be in the main fire station, Nussle said. When there are 14 or 15, the Atlantic Street firehouse should close. Sixteen firefighters is the minimum to keep open all three stations.

The department is operating with four fewer firefighters than it normally does, Nussle said. Three firefighters retired between January and April, and firefighter Jeff Maruskin died in June.

The department submitted the names of four candidates it wants to hire as replacements, but it hasn’t gotten authorization from the city, Nussle said.

The Warren Police Department fell below its former minimum of six police officers on duty at a time during the day shift Aug. 17, when only two officers came to work. Four others called off in the hours before the shift started.

runyan@vindy.com