Fire union, Girard disagree about dispatching service

By SAMANTHA PHILLIPS

sphillips@vindy.com

GIRARD

Mayor James Melfi said the fire department union’s vote of “no confidence” in the city’s dispatching center won’t sway Girard to move its fire dispatching services to Trumbull County’s 911 center.

The Girard Professional Firefighters Association IAFF Local 1220 issued the vote in late March, stating the actions reflect “ongoing dissatisfaction and concern among the members that the Girard 911 Dispatch Center is incapable of safely and efficiently servicing the fire and emergency medical service dispatching needs of the residents of Girard and the fire department.”

Firefighter Bryan Iceman said firefighters first voiced concerns about the dispatching services in 2015. A letter was sent to the administration in 2017 stating the union unanimously supports moving fire dispatching to Trumbull County.

The fire department’s records show there were more than 500 dispatching delays and failures of notifications since 2008, with nine reported in 2018, but Melfi said his office has never received a complaint or concern from citizens about firefighters not being dispatched.

Melfi said he is happy with the city dispatching center’s overall performance.

“It seems that the fire department’s concerns surround the fact that some calls have been deemed minor on the scene and they weren’t called out,” Melfi said. “They want to be called to every scene, which at times is unnecessary and would drive the cost of the fire department higher with overtime.”

The union cited a March 10 accident on state Route 711 where a victim was trapped in a vehicle as an example. The dispatch center delayed notification by 10 minutes to the fire department, the union said.

Melfi said every communication system experiences slight delays sometimes, but the city’s dispatching center continues to learn and improve, and there are upgrades coming soon. He also said having the independent city dispatch center saves money because the dispatchers can act as police clerks.

The city administration is always willing to meet and discuss concerns, Melfi said, but will not compromise on moving dispatching services to Trumbull County.

“The fire department does not dictate policy,” he said, describing its vote of no confidence as aggressive.

Iceman said the department is concerned about the possibility of being dispatched for a medical emergency too late.

“If someone stops breathing, within 10 minutes you start losing brain function,” he said. “When there is a fire, it can double or triple its size every minute.”

A letter from Police Chief John Norman in 2017 requested the fire department be notified of certain incidents including those with injuries or on high impact streets. Iceman said firefighters would like to be notified even if they aren’t called out to respond.

When there are accidents, “we’re there not only to clean up and extricate but we are also providing a road block for people working there,” Iceman said, citing an incident this week in which a car hit a Liberty fire truck that was blocking the scene of a separate accident on the road.

“It only takes one person not paying attention for someone to get hurt,” he said.

Regarding the mayor’s concern about overtime, Iceman said the department has made concession to avoid that, and said the issue is not about money.

“We just want to help people, and be given a heads up when something is going on,” he said.

Iceman said the benefits of moving the fire department’s dispatching services to the county include having multiple dispatchers and having dispatchers who are trained for emergency medical dispatching, which he said the city’s dispatch center lacks.