Austin Fire Chief Dan Wilson reacted strongly to criticism of changes in overnight staffing in the Austin Fire Department.

“The staffing change in schedule that started Jan. 1 is very similar to what we have previously done,” Wilson said. “I think from a report I gave to the Austin City Council we had 165 evenings in 2007, when there was nobody at the fire station.

“On some evenings we are going to have fire calls and we’re going to page in people to deal with those issues. This isn’t new,” Wilson said.

The changes

The City of Austin changed the firefighters’ schedule Thursday (New Year’s Day).

No firefighters will be on duty at the fire station from 10:30 p.m. to 7 a.m.

“There are many fire departments in Minnesota and the country who don’t have firefighters sleeping overnight,” Wilson said.

The fire department claimed it only learned of the Jan. 1 change two days earlier.

Eight months ago, the Austin City Council voted 6-1 to staff the fire department 24 hours a day, seven days a week.

What caused that to change is unknown even by the fire chief.

“I can’t comment on that. You’ll have to talk to Jim Hurm (city administrator),” Wilson said.

Hurm declined comment, citing confidentially rules regarding personnel issues and the ongoing contract talks with the firefighters’ local union.

International Association of Firefighters Local No. 598 has been working for over a year now without a contract with the City of Austin.

The Austin Fire Department has 10 full-time firefighters and 21 part-time paid firefighters.

The staffing schedule changes attracted a lot of attention. One example of the unsubstantiated rumors swirling involves the Austin Police Department — three part-time firefighters are also full-time Austin Police Department officers.

The fire chief denied the rumor he has been recruiting police officers to respond to fire calls in the absence of 24-hour firefighter staffing.

“(Police Chief) Paul Philipp and I have discussed about those police officers, who are part-time firefighters, in a real emergency, when there’s a real fire and I have those three cops show up, why can’t I use them as firefighters if they’re trained to do that job?” Wilson said.

The police chief has not agreed to allow that, according to Wilson, who said the proposal was merely being discussed at this stage.

The change in staffing issue has become a topic of discussion on Web sites and through e-mails, which, Wilson said, are distorting facts.

He has gone so far as to invite anyone to contact him personally with their questions.

At the fire station, he has taken calls from citizens concerned the city is less-protected overnight without firefighters on duty.

“I had a phone call this morning from a citizen,” he said Friday. “He wanted to know should he be concerned about no overnight staffing.

“I told him that our fire department since March of 1993 — almost 16 years — has operated that way,” he said. “In the span of a 24 hour day we have had to summon additional full-time or part-time firefighters to deal with emergencies.”

Sixteen years ago, the city went to a combination of full-time and part-time firefighters.

Like any other profession, there are always changes among the ranks of the firefighters for many different reasons.

According to Wilson, the makeup of the fire department could change again early this year.

“There will be some individuals who need to be replaced because they have decided to move on,” he said.

The fire chief defended the abilities of part-time firefighters.

“Many people have commented on our part-time people and their alleged lack of experience,” Wilson said. “They have said that they (the part-time firefighters) can only do anything if a full-time person is there because a full-time professional firefighter has all the experience,” he continued.

“Do you realize that some of those people (part-time firefighters) have been there since 1993?” Wilson said. “There’s seven or eight of our part-time people who have 15-plus years experience.”

“It’s reasonable to conclude our part-time people know what they’re doing,’ he said.

“I have confidence they know what they’re doing and I also have confidence that in the middle of the night if the LEC gets a report of a fire and a page goes out, I’m going to have a dedicated staff that is going to respond appropriately and immediately to the fire department to take care of the situation,” he said.

Seeking answers

IAW Local No. 598 members are “frustrated and disappointed.”

According to Troy Tigner, Austin firefighter and the union’s president, “The city changed the schedule, They control the schedule — we don’t.

“Our members are frustrated and disappointed over this whole thing,” Tigner said.

The firefighters said he believes the response time to a fire or other emergency occurring between 10:30 p.m. and 7 a.m. will be impacted.

“The response times are going to be slower,” he said. “There’s no way firefighters who are paged from their homes or wherever they are can get to the fire station and then go to the scene of the emergency quicker than firefighters who leave from the station. No way.”

At Monday night’s work session of the Austin City Council, Mayor Tom Stiehm is expected to appoint a committee to deal with “fire matters.”

The work session follows the regular council meeting, which begins at 5:30 p.m. at city hall.

“We’re going to be at that meeting,” Tigner promised. “We’re going to be there to listen.”

There are unanswered questions, Tigner said.

“Why make the schedule changes? What are the savings to the city? They’ve never told anybody that,” Tigner said.