Victoria MN Newspaper

Training

In 2013 Victoria firefighters spent a total of 2,400 hours in training. "A minimum of 200 hours of training is required per firefighter," said Andrew.

Said Mr. Uram, "It takes two years of experience to get up to par with the Fire Department. Our Public Works Department is essentially our full time daytime fire crew."

He said it's important in smaller cities like Victoria that the two Departments -- Fire and Public Works -- work together for the good of the residents.

Those members of the Victoria Public Works Department who are also members of the Victoria Fire Department are Troy Walsh, Brady Lee, and Jeff Borg.

"Shakopee hired four full-time people to fill their daytime gap from 7:00 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. Monday through Friday," said Andrew. "I believe they're paid $23 an hour."

Why are people not volunteering? "It's really growing, what the fire service does," said Andrew. He referred to many jobs the Department requires besides firefighting, such as administrative work and vehicle and equipment maintenance, for example. Andrew said that one of his big time consuming jobs is handling personnel issues.

Shakopee is a bigger city with many places of employment and a larger pool of people and potential volunteer firefighters. But, as Andrew explained, "Employers weren't letting people go on calls because it cut into their bottom line."

Four Models

Chief Heger spoke of four different models for a Fire Department.

1) Paid On Call. This is the current Victoria Fire Department. There is an unknown time commitment. People apply, acquire the training, and respond to calls as they can. It is inexpensive to staff. The Victoria Fire Chief draws a salary of $2,050/year. Assistant Chiefs get $1,150. Captains, $600. Lieutenants $380.

2) Duty Crew. A Fire Department is staffed by part time employees who sign up for shifts but, said Andrew, this would be not so advisable for Victoria because the Victoria Fire Department can go for four days without a call. "We could not support this model with our current staffing levels," he said. Cities with a Duty Crew include Minnetonka, Hopkins, Eden Prairie.

Said Councilmember Jim Crowley, "It'd be interesting to know, if there are numbers, at what does point does a population begin to justify the Duty Crew Model. This is matrix algebra. It sounds like you've got employee data and could look at some probabilities to come up with staffing for various times of a day or week."

3) Combination. The cities of St. Louis Park, St. Anthony, and Edina have a Combination Fire Department Model. Paid on call members are used to supplement a full time staffed fire station.

4) Full Time Career. The cities of Minneapolis, Duluth, St. Paul, and Rochester, for example, have hired full time career firefighters. The average firefighter salary is $59,739.

Recommendations

Fire Chief Heger said that he worked nearly 70 hours for the Fire Department in the month of January. Total officer hours worked in January was 133 hours. Last October that number was 207 hours.

He listed three recommendations for Victoria: 1) Hire a full time Fire Chief, 2) look at the future possibility of hiring a full time daytime firefighter, 3) continue to pursue Public Works/Firefighter positions.

Said Andrew, "With a full time Chief, we could dump much of the workload on one person. We could offer daytime training. The Chief could be a full time recruiter and a daily point of contact. It would be a customer service position to provide service to the taxpayers."

He said cities, similar in size to Victoria, that have a full time Chief include St. Anthony, Mound, Rogers, East Bethel, Long Lake. Outstate cities, similar in size to Victoria, with a full time Chief include Virginia, Crookston, East Grand Forks, International Falls, Little Falls, Cambridge.

Andrew identified salaries of some Fire Chiefs: Chanhassen ($89,000 to $101,000); Chaska ($90,000), Excelsior ($92,000), Mound ($98,000).

Stated City Manager Uram, "I'm concerned about the level of administrative work here and burnout. A captain at $600 is essentially working for nothing."

Said Andrew, "I'd want someone who is sitting there doing administrative work and I want that person to also be able to go out on a call."

Stated Councilmember Crowley, "The ability to conduct both is a benefit, but let's get the data to tell us that."

Said Mr. Uram, "The city will have to decide at what point we have a full time Fire Chief. Having an officer here full time is a benefit to our residents. The data shows it was unusual for Chanhassen and Chaska to not have a full time Fire Chief." Chaska only hired a full time Chief last year.

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