Rescue personnel want time taken with process

By Jennifer Eisenbart

EDITOR

It’s difficult to fault members of the Burlington Rescue Squad for being a bit frustrated this last week.

The reason? The final report on a cooperation efforts for city and town of Burlington fire departments and the rescue squad got out in the public eye by means of one very specific proposal last week before many of the squad members had a chance to even read through the study.

With the City Council taking a look at adding a first responder program to the fire department in an effort to improve response times, members of the rescue squad said the information at the meeting didn’t completely portray what is going on within the squad.

There are no complaints about the addition of a first responder program – at least from the three members who spoke regarding those discussions – but there is also a desire to sit down and look at all of the data.

“Focus on the study as a whole,” said Rescue Squad member Tim McCourt.

The overriding thought portrayed in a sit-down meeting with McCourt, Beth Vrchota and Jeff Koenen – all officers in the squad – is that while first responders may be the end result, that lone proposal shouldn’t be used to justify the means, or rather, the expenditure.

A large part of the reaction seems to be coming from the fact that the City Council heard the proposal last week on the first responders – just a day after receiving the study.

“We just think that it’s going too fast,” said McCourt. “We’re not saying that there isn’t some opportunity here. We want to do our homework.”

City Fire Chief Perry Howard said at the council meeting last week that he was going to sit down with the rescue squad and discuss the proposal the day after the meeting, and did.

But Vrchota, while open to the idea of adding the first responders – “If we are going to get first responders, we embrace them,” she said – would also like people to know the rescue squad would welcome additional members as well.

“That’s going to be key,” she said, “and that has been offered, openly.”

There also seems to be some inaccurate information in the study, including the fact that there are rules on the books that keep people from being involved with both the fire and rescue squad organizations.

“We told them, ‘have your squad join our rescue squad,’” Vrchota said. “There has never been a rule.”

Koenen, a former captain of the rescue squad, said in many cases in the study, the data that was asked for and what was given were two different things. In fact, Koenen has compiled a list of questions about the study, many of which address questions of whether data was asked for either too late to be compiled, or data was provided in one area when asked for in another.

“When you are using data that is flawed or incomplete, the data may be skewed,” he said.

All three also said the 5 minute, 9 second response time quoted in the study doesn’t accurately portray how the squad responds. Often times, they said, the squad needs to take time in station to prepare for a long call, and those times all factor into the average time.

The median time – the number separating the higher times from the lower times in the study, the actual middle number – was not provided in the study.

McCourt also added that rescue squad members who live close to a call will often report directly to the call, and that first responders are available through the City of Burlington police department.

One thing Howard wanted addressed on Tuesday, though, is his desire to ensure there are medically trained staff within the fire department that could respond to calls.

First responders could solve that problem. But so could joint membership in the rescue squad – possibly without the added cost of outfitting first responder vehicles (which would come directly from the already-established fire department budget, but still cost money).

The problem, rescue squad members feel, is that both options have not been fully developed or explored yet.

What is agreed upon is this: the rescue squad needs more volunteers. The organization is privately funded – mostly through the Burlington Rotary Club and private donations.

From a low of 14 members a year or two ago, the squad is now up to 20 volunteers. Both city staff and the rescue squad want that number to increase.

“The more diversified number that you get, the more that are available,” said McCourt.

Added City Administrator Kevin Lahner, “We need to respond to (needing more volunteers).”