I don’t mean this as an attack against the fire department.
Our firefighters deserve our respect and our thanks for what they do. We enjoy a rating of one (the best) from the International Standards Organization.
My questions relate to how we are spending our money within the fire department. Could we spend our money more wisely, thus saving taxpayer money and improving conditions for the employees?
The Fire Apparatus Manufacturer’s Association published a white paper relating to the life cycle of equipment in the field. Their numbers came from surveys of fire chiefs, so the results are not of what is theoretically optimal but instead indicate common practice.
The average number of years a new pumper is expected to be in service in urban communities is 15 years. Units commonly are placed in reserve service after that and are expected to be in service for an average of 10 years according to the responding fire chiefs.
In El Paso the average age of our front line units is 9 years. That includes ladder trucks (quints) which according to the survey are used one year less.
If the national average is 15 years and El Paso is at 9, should we ask why our units are replaced more often?
There are many factors that enter into how long a unit will last. How many miles are they driven, how many hours are they actually operating, how they are maintained all enter into their life expectancy.
El Paso’s units may simply be used more. Is that because we have fewer units than average for our geography? Is it because we use them more often for medical runs?
In 2012 our fire department responded to 72,296 incidents, 1,734 of which were fires. Of those 49,700 were for “Rescue & EMS Incidents”.
Isn’t it time that we look at our practice of sending a heavy fire unit along with each ambulance?
More on that in a later post.
We deserve better
Brutus
elpasospeak 
Very good points. I’m told firetrucks go to every EMS call because the firetrucks house the defibrillators. For example, if an elderly person falls and needs EMS, a fire truck shows up too. Maybe a defibrillator should be there just in case the fall was because of a cardiovascular event. I don’t know the cost of a defibrillator, but a possible solution would be to have more of thrm in ambulances. The cost of the firetruck is probably more than a defibrillator.
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The practice of sending a heavy fire unit along with each ambulance has never made sense to me, nor does it make sense for them to send big trucks to Albertson’s to pick up groceries or to commercial buildings for simple inspections.
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For the cost of a firetruck, they can buy enough cardiac defibrillators for the state.
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FYI: Firetrucks get to an EMS scene before the ambulance!!!….more of them located all over our city than Ambulances…All firefighters are first responders-EMTs: CPR & Defib…also act as security and heavy lift….
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