Allentown EMS, fire forces lobby for added staff in 2020 budget

Nov. 14--The leaders of Allentown's emergency medical services and fire department on Wednesday explained why adding paramedics and firefighters in 2020 is sorely needed and long overdue.

Mayor Ray O'Connell's proposed 2020 budget calls for four additional firefighters, bringing the total to 88, and four additional paramedics, bringing the total to 30.

EMS Chief of Operations Eric Gratz said the paramedic increase will put a third ambulance in operation from 11 p.m. to 7 a.m., the only period during the day that the city of 121,000 residents doesn't already have three in service.

A fourth would now run during the peak call hours of 11 a.m. to 11 p.m, or an additional four hours.

Allentown has had two ambulances in service overnight since 1986, when it got roughly 5,000 annual calls for service, Gratz said. The last time it added an ambulance was 2003, when call volume was approaching 12,000. Call volume in 2018 almost hit 16,000, and is on a similar pace this year.

The expanded operations would leave the city less reliant on mutual aid from surrounding municipalities, which will save lives and money, Gratz said. During the first six months of the year, Allentown EMS' average response time was just under 7 minutes. Mutual aid, used when Allentown's ambulances are already on calls, had an average response time of almost 16 minutes.

Users are paying for the majority (about $4 million) of this year's $4.58 million EMS budget, and Gratz expects it to pull in another $150,000 in revenue in 2020 by handling more overnight calls. That means taxpayers will be left shouldering less of the burden -- an estimated $3.09 per resident, down from approximately $4.70 this year.

Allentown's EMS force for years under the Pawlowski administration tried to increase personnel in vain. Two paramedic positions (the 25th and 26th) were added to the budget in 2015 but not actually filled until 2018.

O'Connell's 2020 budget also includes four new firefighters to return a second aerial, or ladder truck, to full service.

Ladder trucks enable fire crews to execute rescues and battle blazes on upper floors and in roofs more efficiently and safely than using ground ladders.

Fire Chief Jim Wehr said Wednesday that having one ladder truck cover the city's 18 square miles is woefully inadequate. Bethlehem has three ladder trucks covering about 19.5 square miles, and Reading has three covering about 10 square miles.

Allentown's lone full-service truck has responded to nearly 1,800 calls this year, Wehr said. Returning a second truck to service will decrease average response times, he said.

Wehr also noted that having just one truck in full service affected its most recent ISO fire rating, Class 3 of 10. That rating affects the cost of homeowners and business owners insurance policies, Councilman Courtney Robinson pointed out. By investing in the quality of fire service, taxpayers may see an indirect cost savings on insurance, he said.

The fire department doesn't just have a staffing issue when it comes to its aerial trucks -- the fleet is also aging. Allentown's full service aerial is 8 years old with about 90,000 miles, and the one officials are trying to reactivate is 9 years old with about 45,000 miles. A third reserve ladder is 10 years old.

The National Fire Protection Association calls for firetrucks to remain in primary use for no more than 10 years. After that, a truck typically has another 10-year life as a reserve.

The city was without any working ladder trucks over the Fourth of July weekend this summer.

Wehr said he'll most likely request purchasing a new aerial truck during next year's budget process, with it coming into full service in 2022.

A year after raising property taxes 27%, O'Connell has proposed holding the line on all tax rates this year. The $119 spending plan would take $2.4 million from cash reserves to pay for one-time capital expenses. The administration says it will reimburse the reserves when it issues capital bonds in the next year or two.

Morning Call reporter Andrew Wagaman can be reached at 610-820-6764 or awagaman@mcall.com

-- Allentown

-- Allentown Fire Department

-- Allentown EMS

-- Eric Gratz

-- Jim Wehr

-- Allentown City Council

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