Sponsored by Councilmembers Crystal Tidwell and Sue Sprinkle, the ordinance was originally postponed in November.
The ordinance would budget for an additional four firefighter/paramedic positions, with an estimated cost of about $600,000 this year and $550,000 in 2024.
The current contract with the firefighters union mandates minimum staffing levels for each fire department. The proposed ordinance is aimed at reducing the risk of overwhelming the department's current personnel.
Mayor David Pruhs proposed further postponing the adoption of the ordinance until August, and said the issue of staffing is something the city is trying to solve with a recently submitted federal Staffing for Adequate Fire and Emergency Response (SAFER) grant application, which requests $1.28 million for four firefighter positions over three years.
The Fairbanks Firefighters Union released a short statement on Facebook this morning, highlighting their struggles to effectively serve our community. Here it is, below:
CALL TO ACTION!
The good people of Fairbanks deserve better.
This PulsePoint screenshot from Monday afternoon shows a frightening pattern of the Fairbanks Fire Department’s inability to handle over 7000 calls annually with just two staffed ambulances. In this roughly one hour, forty five minute timespan, all eight of these EMS calls within the city limits were either stacked (see the HOLD labels), handled by a mutual aid fire department, or a secondary mutual aid department handled the call when the first mutual aid department declined assistance.
Medical Emergencies in the Span of Several Hours
Bottom line: none of these eight 911 callers received an ambulance in a timely fashion.
One dramatic example of this problem occurred just three months ago when Engine 1 and a mutual aid ambulance were dispatched to an infant with critical airway bleeding. Medic 1 and Medic 2 were committed to other calls and the mutual aid ambulance was still 15 minutes away, so the crew transported the child in the back seat of the fire engine, saving the child’s life. (See our post from Dec. 10, 2022)
This shamefully low staffing level is no surprise to politicians, but they continue to postpone efforts to work toward a solution.
This coming Monday, March 27th, the Fairbanks City Council will vote on Ordinance No. 6227, hopefully changing the collective bargaining agreement and increasing staffing for a third ambulance. Please consider testifying Monday evening if you see the potential life-and-death importance of this ordinance, share this post, and contact the council via email.
Tell Mayor David Pruhs not to put lives at risk with another postponement.
Testimony is open to all Borough residents, as the ambulances serve our whole community, though statements from city residents will likely carry more weight.
If you’re able, please tell our city council and mayor that you value this important service.
