Taking fire trucks off street only way to save money: WFPS report By: Erik Pindera Posted: 2:02 PM CDT Thursday, May. 2, 2024

The Winnipeg Fire Paramedic Service insists the only way to reach a cost-saving directive from the city is by occasionally taking some fire vehicles off the street — an option the councillor who oversees community services calls unrealistic.

A report on the WFPS’s overtime mitigation strategy, prepared by Deputy Chief Scott Wilkinson, goes to council’s community services committee next week.

The report noted the city has asked the WFPS to cut its budget this year by $3 million. All city departments have been asked to cut costs.

WFPS Overtime Mitigation Strategy

 

The savings need to be found within the fire service, the report said, as emergency medical services (ambulances) are funded by the province through Shared Health. Salary costs make up 86 per cent of the fire side of the department’s expenditures, Wilkinson wrote.

The report says the only way to save cash would be to reduce the amount spent on overtime by temporarily taking up to five WFPS vehicles out of service when staffing levels are low. That would be when less than 167 full time firefighters, the full complement, are on duty. Instead of calling in extra staff for overtime shifts when workers call in sick or are on holidays, the vehicles would be taken off the streets.

The removals would be staggered, based on the number of staff off on a given shift. The vehicles, which are stationed throughout the city, include a ladder truck, three fire engines and a squad unit, which is a smaller vehicle staffed by two that responds mostly to medical calls.

Taking vehicles off the street “creates operational risk” depending on the number and severity of fires, department Chief Christian Schmidt told reporters.

“We can anticipate that there can be some response time delays, in terms of getting a full complement to a working event. However, the units that have been selected … we still maintain enough personnel in the immediate area to have a unit on scene … within acceptable timelines,” Schmidt said Thursday.

“It’s not an ideal situation, but we’re faced with a significant budgetary challenge here.”

The chief said WFPS brass would not make any orders at a scene that would place personnel at risk.

“They will initiate their plans when they have enough personnel at scene … we’re going to do our best under this plan to ensure that it’s safe for everyone, the members at large and also the public,” Schmidt said.

United Firefighters of Winnipeg union president Tom Bilous said the proposal would increase the workload of firefighters and put workers and the public at increased risk.

“It’s absolutely ludicrous to think that we would be taking machines out of service, to jeopardize firefighter and citizen safety alike, is astounding,” Bilous said.

“Our members are now going to have to wait longer for second and third apparatus to arrive, which allows fires and whatnot to grow, which increases dangers.”

Coun. Evan Duncan (Charleswood-Tuxedo-Westwood), who chairs the community services committee, said he doesn’t think the report’s proposal is viable.

“I don’t think that it’s a realistic option to reduce fire response times,” said Duncan.

“I don’t think that it’s a realistic option to reduce fire response times.”–Coun. Evan Duncan

He said there will need to be further discussions about finding cost savings elsewhere in the service, not on salaries, and suggested WFPS might not need to meet its full $3-million cost-cut goal this year.

“I think that we need to look at non-salaried expenses and see what can be saved there. I’ve asked the public service to provide more information about specifics around numbers,” Duncan said.

The department’s other expenditures are noted as about $21-million, with around $12-million already allocated, leaving the WFPS with just $8-million-and-change” to work with, said Duncan.

“If you take $3 million off that, that’s now 34 per cent (of the available budget) … So, we now we go back to the drawing board with WFPS to see where they could potentially make good on the $3-million ask,” he said.

“The intention was not to remove firefighters, or lessen services in an already extremely busy fire department, it was to look at cost-saving options.”

Duncan said he’s not sure if $3 million in savings will be achievable in 2024, but “we definitely need to work toward some type of reduction, to be equal to all the other departments.”

Schmidt said the WFPS has no wiggle room.

“If you want to have a first-class fire department, you have to pay first-class taxes.”–United Firefighters of Winnipeg union president Tom Bilous

“We’re operating a very lean operation here, and that is well-detailed in our master-plan documents. Year after year, we see additional over-expenditure reports that are driven by overtime costs, so it’s overtime that we need to address.”

The WFPS 2024 proposed budget is $237.2-million, up from $226.5-million in the 2023 budget. It is the second-highest funded city department, after the Winnipeg Police Service.

Bilous suggested raising taxes instead to increase the WFPS’s staffing ratios, ultimately reducing overtime over the long term. The current staff ratio is 1.29 firefighters per seat in a fire vehicle, but both the union and the department want 1.35, which is the ratio used by the paramedic side.

The extra percentage allows for adjustments when staff are injured, on leave and on holiday.

“If you want to have a first-class fire department, you have to pay first-class taxes,” said the union leader.

Wilkinson said staff reductions would be needed to reduce costs year-over-year, but with the year’s recruit class already underway, there’s no way to cut positions permanently right now.

Schmidt said that option, which was considered before the current recruit class was hired, would only contribute to the workforce deficit as retirements roll in. He added that layoffs are not being considered in the short or long terms.

He said any long-term employee reductions would be made by not replacing retired firefighters, but it’s not an option the service wants to use.

erik.pindera@freepress.mb.ca