KC needs fire chief not stuck in the past
Yael T. AbouhalkahKC Fire Chief Smokey Dyer made his considerable reputation as an old-fashioned fire boss intent on expanding his department. Right now, however, KC needs a chief not stuck in the past, someone who will bring firefighting into the 21st century.
That means figuring out how to reduce the workforce assigned to fires while maintaining adequate staffing to handle EMS calls with two-person ambulance crews.
Yet Dyer said Wednesday at a City Council hearing he supports using four-person trucks, not the three-person pumpers recommended by City Manager Troy Schulte.
The city could get rid of 105 firefighters, saving millions of dollars, under Schulte’s plan.
Understandably, Dyer opposes this move, partly because he pushed for the extra firefighters so hard in 2001.
But Mayor Sly James and the City Council need to recognize something that Dyer can’t or won’t accept: Times have changed in the firefighting business, not just in KC but all around the country.
Fires are down, way down, thanks to safer buildings and more smoke alarms.
Cities across this nation are looking at ways to better use their scarce resources. Putting more money into the old-fashioned idea of having dozens of vastly under-utilized fire stations around a city - like KC has - is the old way of doing things.
The new way is to figure out how a city can emphasize promoting a reduction in fires with the public, a much lower-cost way of doing business.
Dyer was a great chief when times were good and Kansas Citians could afford a bloated fire staff. We don’t have the luxury anymore.
Here’s hoping James, in his budget statement today, rejects Dyer’s old approach to fighting fires in KC.
Google+
Share
Tweet
Domenic Serrone
Kansas City
3 months, 1 week agoYael, how many times do credible and qualified people (unlike yourself) have to explain, just because the number of fires have decreased, you don’t change the way you attack them. You have stated a number of times, that reducing manpower wont affect public safety. In order to make such a bold statement, a person has to understand the actual operations that take place during a specific incident. You have zero knowledge and personal experience of either. Therefor not only are you misleading your readers, but you are also putting their public safety in danger with your reckless comments over subjects you don’t fully understand. How do you call for a fire Chief that will bring firefighting to the 21st century, when you don’t even understand the nature and actual skill of firefighting in any century let alone the future?
Anthony Inzenga
Kansas City
3 months, 1 week agoWhen the Citizens adopted the Fire Safety Sales Tax and when the City agreed to Adopt NFPA 1710 through Collective Bargaining, the Fire Department (KCFD) was finally brought into modern times or as you call it the “21st Century”. What you are really asking the City to do is bring us back into the early 20th Century. This city has a Model “All Hazards Response” Fire Department that other Cities in the Country have looked to when attempting to modernize their mission, tactics, equipment, training, and staffing. Having more than 300 square miles to protect and serve gives our Department an additional challenge. We must cover more than, twice as much geography than other cities with similar population. If this attempt to reduce staffing is successful, it will not only jeopardize the safety of all Firefighters, EMT’s, and Paramedics, it will jeopardize the safety of the very citizens in peril that need us most. Let’s keep our “21st Century” KCFD.