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Hernando Today

The Nuts And Bolts Of A Single District

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Kyle Martin

Published: January 5, 2008

A new study that suggests unifying the county's fire departments has met with staunch resistance from administrators.

Everyone is spooked at the thought of consolidation.

But it's also the nuts and bolts of the study that has the rank-and-file firefighters scratching their heads.

Contained in the hefty 574-page document is a detailed explanation of how to go about creating a common county fire department.

If followed to the letter, the changes would significantly alter the face of Hernando County's fire service.

Among the major recommendations:

"Relocating" two stations and building three new ones in more strategic locations.

Dissolving Spring Hill Fire Rescue's dispatch and transferring it to the sheriff's Emergency Operations Center.

Hiring 167 more firefighters within the next 3-5 years.

Changing the schedules of paramedics to work 12-hour shifts and reconfiguring the station placement of ambulances in the county.

Those improvements are aimed to reduce redundancy and lower the current response times, but it's not without detractors.

"It's all about figures and money," county Capt. Bobby Rae said Friday outside Station 12 on Ovenbird Road near Weeki Wachee Springs. The study's authors suggest razing Rae's station and rebuilding it farther north on U.S. 19. "They need to add common sense."

For example, Rae says a large portion of Station 12's medical calls come from the stretch of nursing homes and doctor's offices that line Cortez Boulevard.

If the station was razed and rebuilt on U.S. 19, that would leave Station 12 on Barclay Avenue vulnerable, he said.

Spring Hill's Station 4 on Mariner Boulevard could also fall responsible for those medical calls, according to Troy Hagar, president of the Spring Hill Fire Rescue union.

"We're worried about what it does to the public safety and firefighter safety," Hagar said.

Spring Hill among all the districts seems to cling hardest to its individual identity. Hagar said he would be "uncomfortable" calling himself a county firefighter.

The taxpayers of Spring Hill pay his salary and bought his equipment so he feels a "loyalty and dedication to those services," he said.

Brooksville Lt. Sam Schey views it differently. "Regardless of who signs my paycheck, I'm still going to be a firefighter doing my job," he said.

Chief among the questions of how to align the fire departments is salaries. The starting salary for a basic Spring Hill firefighter EMT is $39,497, versus the county's $32,000 and Brooksville's $33,700.

Would the lower-paid firefighters be brought up to Spring Hill's level, or would Spring Hill firefighters take a pay cut? What about benefits

The chain of command will take a hit, too. Which of the fire chiefs will step down and allow for the one new chief? Who gets the assistant chief job and what will position will Brooksville's three lieutenants take?

Taxpayers could see annual savings of up to $700,000 if the plan goes into place, but Jason Brazinski, president of the Hernando County Fire Rescue union, wonders when that will happen.

Between hiring nearly 200 people and building new fire stations, "it's hard to envision individual cost savings," he said.

He was also surprised and disappointed at the acceptable response times charted in the study. Researchers decided on seven minutes to an urban zone, nine to a suburban zone and 12 to a rural.

"Twelve to 15 minutes is not a good response time," he said. "We already face sub-standard response times."

Still, he's all for a standard level of service. Firefighters take pride in their departments, but a victim doesn't care what patch the firefighter wears as long as the fire is out, he said.

While consolidation might have its share of enemies, there are small nuggets in the report that everyone agrees are necessary, too.

There's already been an effort to create standards for the equipment typically needed in a mutual aid situation, such as hose couplings and air packs.

Purchasing uniform emergency apparatus and developing mutual training situations, as suggested by the report, is something "we should have been doing long ago," Hagar said.

A unified wellness and fitness program is welcomed by Brazinski. That program would screen employees for heart problems, create support groups and provide fitness evaluations.

But in the end, "one size fits all is going to be difficult," Hagar said.

Reporter Kyle Martin can be reached at 352-544-5271 or kmartin@hernandotoday.com.

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