The Milan News-Leader
A Heritage Newspaper
Weekly Publication
Changes in store for fire department
Fire board votes to reclassify department, reduce number of runs
By Brian Cox, Staff Writer
PUBLISHED: March 6, 2008
The Milan Area Fire Department is expected soon to start making fewer emergency runs after the fire board voted 7-1 to reclassify the department and reduce the type of 911 calls it's required to respond to.
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City and township officials say the change from a Class 1 fire department to a Class 2 is expected to be a cost-saver for the four municipalities serviced by the Milan Area Fire Department — York Township, London Township, Milan Township and the city of Milan.
How much might be saved is unclear and won't be known for a couple of months, they said.
"We will be responding to far less runs than we are now," said City Councilman Brett Moyer, who advocated for the change as a member of the fire board. "Less runs means less cost. It will affect our bottom line and the re-classification shouldn't affect response times to minor incidents."
The Milan Area Fire Department made 901 runs last year. About 67 percent of those runs were medical calls, which Huron Valley Ambulance also responded to, said officials.
With the reclassification, response to some 911 calls will be made only by HVA, which bills the resident, not a municipality.
"The question is why do we need to send our fire department out when HVA is already going on those calls," said Milan Mayor Kym Muckler, adding that only 5.67 percent of the department's runs last year were fire or life-threatening calls.
The change, however, has not been received well by Fire Chief David Webb, who said he was not consulted about the reclassification.
"(The fire board) chose to do it without having the necessary information in front of them to make an informed decision," he said.
Webb disagreed with Moyer's position that the change would not affect response times.
As an example, he said the department would no longer respond to traffic accidents reported by a passing motorist if the 911 dispatcher couldn't determine the severity of the accident. In those cases, if the ambulance arrives to find a person pinned or trapped in the car, only then would the fire department be called.
"Some of our most horrific crashes have come in as unknown," Webb said. "There's some pretty serious stuff here that they won't be sending us out on anymore. We're worried for the citizens."
But the reclassification doesn't preclude the fire department from responding to such incidents, Moyer said.
"As a Class 2 department, we have the option to respond to more calls if necessary," he said. "It doesn't stop us from going on Category 1 incidents. It just means we don't have to respond."
As a Class 1 department, Milan was required to respond to all 911 calls. The Milan Area Fire Department originally changed from a Class 2 to a Class 1 department in the early 1990s.
The controversy over the change back to a Class 2 is the latest in a line of conflicts over future handling of the fire department, which has been a center of contention between the townships and the city.
Webb said he believed the change was a political move in response to his efforts to convert the paid-on-call volunteer department to full time.
Webb submitted a budget this year calling for three full-time firefighters and three full-time officers at an additional cost approaching $400,000.
Moyer said Webb's plan to make the department full time was a factor in the fire board's decision.
"This will ensure we won't be forced to become a full-time department," Moyer said. "We can't afford full time right now."
Moyer said the change would alleviate some pressure on volunteer firefighters who are required to make a certain percentage of runs to maintain their status.
But Scott Goodwin, 47, who has been a Milan volunteer firefighter for about 10 years doesn't see the change as helpful.
"It was kind of a slap to the face of the firefighters," Goodwin said. "I think they look at everything as just dollars."
Muckler said Webb has not mentioned to her his displeasure over the reclassification decision.
"I have not had one single communication with Chief Webb about this," Muckler said. "The fire board, where we made this decision, would have been the appropriate place for the chief to express his concerns. He did not."
Milan Police Chief Jeffrey Lewis is overseeing the training of emergency dispatchers in the new protocols and Muckler said the results of the reclassification would be re-evaluated in a year.
"I think people in the long run will see the change as a good thing," she said.
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