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As Tampa Tightens Belt, Fire Rescue Seeks Budget Boost

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By ELLEN GEDALIUS, The Tampa Tribune

Published: February 25, 2008

Updated: 02/24/2008 11:12 pm

TAMPA - As city departments look for ways to trim money from their budgets, one department is hoping to expand: fire and rescue.

Despite the budget shortfall facing Tampa, fire officials say the city has a critical need to build new fire stations and hire more firefighters. Staffing levels are too low, Fire Chief Dennis Jones said, and New Tampa needs more fire stations to accommodate growth and cut down on response times that can be higher than in the rest of the city.

To fully implement his plan, Jones would need $16.6 million in the next several years.

"If we add firefighters, that means other cuts will be made in the city somewhere," Jones said. "I'm very sensitive to that. We are going to state our case."

He says the fire department needs two new ambulances, one for the New Tampa area and one for the fire station on West Hillsborough Avenue, between Himes and Armenia avenues.

Jones also wants to build two new fire stations in New Tampa, one near Cross Creek Boulevard and Morris Bridge Road, the other near County Line Road and Bruce. B. Downs Boulevard. The new stations would help serve the growth in the area.

Councilman Joseph Caetano, who represents the North Tampa district, said he realizes the fire station at Cross Creek near Bruce B. Downs is busy.

"I go by there a lot and I never see the truck there," Caetano aid. "I know they get a lot of calls."

New fire stations, he said, "are definitely needed."

Traffic on Bruce B. Downs is particularly bad, slowing the response time of the two fire stations already in the area. Long travel distances also are a concern.

Jones points to a report showing response times to four recent fires in different parts of the city. In three cases, three engines arrived at the scene in less than 10 minutes. In New Tampa, the third engine didn't arrive until about 18 minutes after the call.

Jones recommends building a station near Morris Bridge as quickly as possible. In addition to the $2 million needed to construct the building, Jones estimates needing about $1.6 million for station personnel, including 18 firefighters.

He also wants the city to buy property for a station near County Line Road and Bruce B. Downs but to hold off on building it until he can see how much the Morris Bridge Road station helps cut response times.

Jones also wants to add 81 firefighters over approximately 12 years, an initiative Mayor Pam Iorio has indicated she would support.

Iorio has said she has no plans to cut positions from the fire department and instead wants to add firefighters. Since 2003, she has added at least seven firefighters a year in an effort to have four firefighters on a truck rather than three.

This year, though, she halted that initiative in light of budget cuts but has said she plans to renew the effort for the upcoming fiscal year.

The national standard for metropolitan areas, Jones said, is to have four firefighters on a truck. He points to research that indicates four firefighters can rescue potential fire victims 80 percent faster than a three-firefighter crew. Tampa still has many instances when only three firefighters are on a truck.

"It's not just for our safety, it's for your safety," he said.

Reporter Ellen Gedalius can be reached at (813) 259-7679 or egedalius@tampatrib.com.

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