Fire fight gets heated

As difficult as this dastardly budget conundrum has been, a lot of good has come out of it. With threats to cut public safety manpower, we learned the true value of our treasured public servants and, sadly, how terribly unappreciated they feel. It was time to make a fuss over them. The process taught us that speaking up for what is right makes a difference.
Perhaps we have taken public safety for granted because these fine professionals do such a good job of keeping us safe. They make it look easy, when in reality it is anything but a proposed 1.9-cent tax hike put our proud and brave police and firefighters in city council’s crosshairs. Looking to minimize the increase, some council members suggested that we could streamline public safety, delivering the same stellar service for less, thus eliminating three firemen and possibly two police officers.
Despite a study revealing that the fire department was doing a professional job with a “bare bones” operation needing more rather than less firemen, council members continued the drumbeat, suggesting that the firemen speed if necessary to tweak response time.
Only because the exhaustive study of the police department has yet to be completed do we not know what might be suggested to supplement the fine men and women in blue. Might they be asked to call upon Barney Fife rather than hire a new officer?
The battle heated and the fire union balked. An outraged citizenry showed up to collectively deliver a piece of their minds. This is the silver lining in the cloud. We passionately pulled together as a community, a meeting of neighbors to show our love and support for those who would at any moment, put their lives on the line and charge into a burning building or take a bullet to keep us safe.
It was sad but heartwarming to witness last week’s supportive outcry. This is where the good comes in. Our unsung heroes were recognized. We should have a tickertape parade down Asbury Avenue heading to the May 24 city council meeting when the budget is, hopefully, approved on second reading. Imagine, big red engines loaded with firemen, and lots and lots of police. We want the mayor, sirens and flashing lights, excitement.
The grand marshal of our big parade would be the city’s chief financial officer, John Hansen. In the private sector, shareholders would shower the 20-year veteran with lucrative bonuses. The city’s stellar bond rating and sound budget don’t happen in a vacuum.
Hansen was magnificent throughout the ordeal. Council repeatedly questioned his integrity, but he remained cool, calm and collected. He finally told them he would not jeopardize his license for a budget he knew was under-funded in the areas of public safety and health insurance.
“As your CFO, I will not certify this budget,” he said. “It will have to be taken up by the State of New Jersey.”
They weren’t listening. I’ve sat through council meetings over the years, and always found Hansen’s explanations easy to digest. I’ve seen him deliver news that administrations wanted to hear and news that they didn’t. He’s not political; he’s for whatever is best for Ocean City. He wears green eye shades but allows for common sense. It has to be the right thing to do.
I’ve seen him time and again find a way to “make it work” as he mitigated emergencies and crises with professional ease. He’s made it look so easy council has gotten complacent. When Hansen warns that he can’t do it, why wouldn’t they listen? They wouldn’t listen to Ocean City Fire Chief Joe Foglio’s warnings either.
Council passed the budget 6-1 only on first reading. The battle is not over yet. It’s going to heat up again and this time we should be prepared. Council should listen to the citizenry; maybe host a public budget forum in a venue large enough to hold everyone this time.
Warning that more people will leave the island, council claims they are looking out for cash-strapped residents. They suggest we look at alternate revenue sources – a good thing – and better ways to deliver public safety. Uh-oh!
It was bandied about last week that we should supplement our paid professionals.
“We are going to encourage them to come up with a hybrid, a mix of paid and volunteer firemen,” said Councilman Roy Wagner. “You can mix salaried and volunteer individuals and provide the same service for less. The model we have now is all paid. It’s so lucrative that nobody quits. You can replace some of those paid men with volunteers.”
“I don’t think eliminating three firefighters solves the problem,” said Councilman Keith Hartzell. “We should move to add 10 volunteers immediately. There are plenty of people.”
There are? To save the cost of doing another study, I called an expert, Fire Chief Jay Newman of the Marmora Volunteer Fire Company. Upper Township is serviced by about 120 volunteers in four companies - Marmora, Seaville, Tuckahoe and Strathmere. Strathmere is short on volunteers; Ocean City stepped in.
“Adding volunteers to a paid squad like Ocean City is going backwards,” said Newman. “I’ve been doing this for 28 years, chief for 18 and I’ve never heard of any fire company doing this. Any combination fire department has evolved from volunteers looking to enhance their department, when they say this is too much for us.”
To depend on volunteers, you have to have a four to one ratio.
“If you need ten men, you better have at least 40,” said Newman.
Council talked about volunteers as though you call an 800 number and they magically appear. They have to be trained, and that’s just the beginning.
“My son started the class in January and he will not be done until June,” said Newman. “The state mandates 120 hours of training. EMTs need an additional 180 hours.”
Newman said he and Foglio have a “phenomenal” working relationship.
“It’s as good as it gets; all of the Upper Township fire companies work well together,” he said. “When a call comes in, all three mainland companies respond to make sure there’s enough manpower. Volunteers have kids; they have families and other obligations. “We’re not paying them,” he added. “They can’t come every time they’re called. I have my own business, I can put the time in. Most of our guys can’t. They have jobs.”
Upper Township receives 250 to 300 calls a year, Ocean City over 5,000.
“You can’t put that kind of strain on a volunteer,” said Newman. “What they do in Ocean City is phenomenal. It never stops.
“The paid and volunteer squads have their own command structures,” he added. “Our companies have grown slowly over time. You’d need a building and equipment. It takes a long time to get something like that started.”
The owner of a $400,000 home in Ocean City pays $370 for fire service, including salaries. In Tuckahoe for example, that same $400,000 homeowner would pay $352 to support the local volunteers. Each fire district has its own structure and tax rate. That does not include $46,000 donation collectively paid to the companies by the township volunteers are not free.
Even without paying salaries, volunteer service is costly. Upper’s volunteers work aggressively at fund raising – coin drops and pancake breakfasts - to maintain first class facilities. Gear for each volunteer costs about $5,000.
With its huge ratable base, Ocean City taxpayers are fortunate with paid firefighters arriving in less than four minutes. There is no greater value, and if a taxpayer wants to leave over the penny increase in taxes, so be it. Taxes are going up everywhere, and in this post 9-11 world, public safety is costly.
It’s hard to buttress the paid force without slighting the volunteers, who selflessly donate their time. That is not my intention. They both do a phenomenal job and we’re grateful for their service. Newman said the difference makes a difference.
“Volunteers have a job, and they help out when they can,” he said. “They’re a wonderful source of protection in Upper at 300 calls, but it’s a different story in Ocean City at 5,000 calls. Volunteers are just that, volunteers.”
Both volunteers and paid firemen are born to serve.
“We have the same passion in our hearts, it’s just a different means of arriving there, our circumstances,” said Newman.
As retired fire equipment specialist Paul Anselm so eloquently put it, “For some, it’s an avocation; for others a vocation.”
“Ocean City’s EMS and fire protection is a model for the state,” said Newman. “It has one of the best response times anywhere. To me, public safety is an easy sell. If a fire truck or an ambulance doesn’t get out, someone dies. It’s that simple.”
Don’t confuse Wagner with the facts.
“The firemen give you the worst case scenario and they confuse the possibility of something happening with the probability of it happening,” Wagner added. “They tell you that they could have to respond to a fire here and an emergency breaks out somewhere else, what would they do? Well, what are the odds? What is the probability? There is a possibility of almost anything happening, but the probability is not very likely.”
Tell that to the people who spoke publicly; tragedies do occur. The problem is that when statistics and probability are defied, it means death and destruction. Wagner is ready to take the risk, and it might be your family’s life at stake. His brilliant infomercial on keeping the 46th Street post office demonstrated that he isn’t against everything. What’s more important to you, an extra post office or adequate public safety?
As one woman, chastising council for not listening about cutting three firemen, so aptly phrased it, “I want you all to hire the three dudes and let’s move on.”


Ann Richardson can be e-mailed at annrichardson@catamaranmedia.com or you can comment on this story by calling 624-8900, ext. 250, or visiting www.shorenewstoday.com and clicking on the Speak Out link.