New study highlights issues created by fragmentation, recommends unification of departments
St. Louis, MO (November 16, 2015) – Over the past 15 months, a committee consisting of active firefighters, fire chiefs, labor leaders, and researchers from Better Together have worked to understand the best way to bring St. Louis City and County into compliance with the standards outlined by the National Fire Protection Association (NFPA). The committee focused specifically on NFPA 1710, which lays out standards for fire suppression and emergency medical operations.
At present, the 1.3 million residents of the St. Louis region receive service from 43 different municipal fire departments and fire protection districts. This diverse and fragmented system of service provision creates several challenges for firefighters and their ability to conform to NFPA standards – including the recommendation that fire and emergency medical services be able to respond to calls within a four-minute window. Fragmentation also leads to inequities in staffing levels among departments, inconsistencies in training, and a lack of standardization for trucks and equipment.
“The modern firefighter’s job is incredibly demanding and complex, and our region’s firefighters work tirelessly to save lives and property,” said Nancy Rice, Executive Director of Better Together. “However, the unfortunate reality is that problems within the structure of our services creates an environment that is both inefficient and potentially dangerous.”
The first portion of the Better Together report on fire protection, released last month, identified pockets of the region where additional firefighting and emergency services would be required to provide the four-minute response. The data in that first report points to the recommendations made in the second: Unification and the pooling of resources are the most promising methods of ensuring safety to the public as they live and travel in St. Louis.
Preliminary analysis indicates that unifying the districts would allow some of the money that is today spent on operations could be redirected to equalize pay and benefits for firefighters throughout St. Louis City and County and strengthen the resources available for fire protection and emergency medical services.
Dennis Jenkerson, Chief of the St. Louis City Fire Department and a key participant in the study committee, stated: “More work lies ahead of us, and there are many additional details to be identified and negotiated. The process of getting the region into NFPA compliance will take time, but this report gives us a roadmap to a stronger fire and emergency service.”
The full report is available at www.bettertogetherstl.com/fire-protection .