BCFD Union President Casey Johnson speaks out on Ambulance Service
By Shannon Weidemann (McKone) on Tuesday, April 5th, 2022 in More Top Stories Northeastern Oregon News
BAKER CITY – Many concerns and questions have emerged since the Baker City Council made the decision last month to discontinue ambulance service in Baker City effective September 30, 2022.
Information on that decision can be found at https://elkhornmediagroup.com/city-council-makes-decision-to-discontinue-ambulance-service/
Elkhorn Media Group sat down of the weekend with the Baker City Fire Departments Union President to discuss what is happening and what it means to the citizens of Baker City and Baker County.
(Q) Let’s start with an introduction of who you are.
(A) My name is Casey Johnson. I represent Baker City Firefighters Association as the President of that Association.
(Q) Last month the Baker City Council made the decision to discontinue ambulance service in Baker City, with the council making the decision that they made. Ultimately. What does that mean right now? Or for the next couple of months for citizens, as well as members of the Baker City Fire and Rescue?
(A) Baker City Firefighters are dual response trained in Fire and EMS (Emergency Medical Services.) The big advantage to this system is that because of those firefighter/paramedics, that gives us staffing needed for fire emergencies, a very labor-intensive operation. On a typical day, 2 firefighters staff an ambulance, and two firefighters staff a fire engine. When the call for a structure fire comes in, those 2 firefighters on an ambulance give us the bare minimum number of firefighters needed on scene for a quick knock-down of a fire or to perform rescue of an entrapped citizen. By withdrawing from ambulance service, the city intends to lay off those firefighters needed to operate the ambulance effective September 30th. That structure leaves only a bare-bones crew to respond to fires, making it unsafe to enter a burning building for any reason. We have been told we will be moving to a “Defensive Only” department, which means we will not be allowed to enter that burning house to knock down the fire and prevent it spreading throughout the house. Additionally, because we will not have an ambulance, the city intends to not pay for firefighters to maintain their medical certifications, therefore we will not be allowed to perform anything but basic first aid and CPR.
You asked what this means right now. With the September 30th deadline looming, and with Baker City Fire Department operations scheduled to be a skeleton of its current system, firefighters are looking for other jobs. They have worked hard to obtain the training and both fire and medical certifications so that they can answer the call to help our community when someone calls 911 and is having the worst day of their life. These certifications are years in the making, and it’s hard work traveling, testing, and interviewing for a new fire department. It took me 5 years of working my tail off to get my first fire job, including applying to Baker back around 2010 (which I wasn’t hired for my first time around!) So, with this 6 month deadline, those slated for layoff are scrambling to get on hiring lists and test so they can get hired at a department that’s stable with a community-first mindset. We have already had one fire medic put in his notice, and I expect that trend to continue, so any of us that are left will be worked to the bone to maintain as much service to the community as we can as a result of this deadline. The average citizen may see increased wait time after calling 911 as the summer goes on into fall.
(Q) What happens when this September 30, 2022, deadline comes? What will happen to the ambulance service in the city and subsequently the county?
(A) After that, the fire department ambulance will no longer roll out the door at all, ending service we’ve provided to our community since 1937.
(Q) For anything in the city, or in the county?
(A) Not for anything at all. If the city and the county can’t come to some kind of agreement soon, and I mean REAL SOON, Baker County Commissioners will have to find another provider to bring in to run medical 911 calls to take over the ASA. (Ambulance Service Area.)
(Q) So then in order to keep the ambulance. What are your guys is next step?
(A) Our job is SERVICE. We want to continue to serve the public in this amazing community. We understand that fire and EMS operations don’t come cheap. It’s up the citizens to decide what their acceptable level of risk is for their health and safety, and what their expectations of service are when they call 911 for any emergency. If those things are valuable to each individual in this community, they need to let their elected leaders know what they expect and want. If you care about having a valuable public service agency to answer your call in time of crisis, then the community needs to let their leaders know. If, on the other hand, the county makes the decision to bring a private for-profit company that is concerned more about profits than the community it serves, and people are willing to live with the risk of losing a home to fire instead of having a full professional staff at the ready to respond to improve their outcomes, then that is what they’ll get. Firefighters don’t exist to have jobs, we exist to meet the demands of the public in an emergency.
We are dual staffed; we have dual roles. If you have a car fire, if your house is on fire, if you have difficulty breathing, if you have a heart attack, any of those kind of things, we are cross-trained in both of those and we specialize in fire and emergency medical, paramedic level service.
(Q) How many do you have staffed at the department currently?
(A) We’re short one person and the city has been trying to fill that vacancy. We are currently at 11, but as I mentioned earlier we are dropping down to 10 in the next week.
(Q) So, half of those would go away?
(A) Right, half of those 12 positions would go away. The proposed staffing model Chief Lee presented would have six full time firefighters, and possibly 1 “floater” working days.
(Q) Right now, if you guys get called out to a fire at a bare minimum you have to have three people to effectively fight the fire?
(A) To be honest, three is still a far cry from ideal. The number of firefighters that arrive on the “first due” engine, meaning the first arriving crews that can immediately go into action, should be 4. If 2 firefighters go inside an IDLH environment that is a house fire (immediate danger to life and health,) there has to be two firefighters outside to be able to immediately go into action if the first 2 get into trouble.
(Q) So, after September 30, 2022 what sort of medical things can you do, when you are on a fire?
(A) From what I’m told, we will be only be able to perform Basic CPR. If the city does not choose to maintain our certifications, then even if we have a valid paramedic license, we would not be able to use it due to state law and insurance liability reasons for the city. We couldn’t even administer oxygen.
(Q) In some places the hospitals have ambulance services. Is that something that the hospital does or does not have in Baker?
(A) St Alphonsus Baker does not have a hospital-based ambulance service.
(Q) Just backing up to confirm that I understand what you are saying. On October 1, 2022, if someone calls for an ambulance because they need some sort of medical attention, there will be nobody that is medically trained like you are now, that can go help them?
(A) The County is required by state law to pick a provider for ambulance service. If that’s not Baker City Fire Department, then it would have to be a private ambulance. I can say with some certainty that a private for profit company has shown interest in the past, but if you think that a private company will come in to Baker County and be able to provide the same level of service with an equal level of certification then you’ve got your head in the mud. Most private ambulance companies have one paramedic and one EMT Basic driver. Most of those large companies run those guys into the ground in order to turn a profit. They don’t care if you need to go to the hospital or not, it’s in their best interest to transport you because they can then bill you for that transport. There has a been a push in the Portland Metropolitan area for fire departments to take back over ambulance transports because some of these private companies are failing to meet service standards, and they are being forced out. I think that’s one reason they want to come to Baker, to recoup their losses elsewhere. Even if they give you a song and dance and say it won’t cost the taxpayers as much, it won’t take long before they come back and ask the county for more money. Once the fire department ambulance service is gone, the county won’t have another option, and they’ll have to start subsidizing that private company with taxpayer money anyway.
(Q) Between now and that September 30 deadline, what are your hopes, what are you guys working on?
(A) It’s my hope that we get the information out to the community so they can see the value of what they’re losing, and that they stand up and voice their concerns to their elected officials. I doubt anyone in Baker City’s taxes are going down as result of these safety cuts. I hope that both city and county residents will realize they are losing a big portion of their lifeline. Their public safety is at risk.
The picture that the city manager painted to city council was purely based on a financial aspect. It in no way incorporated the value of having professionals on staff ready to respond. It was never considered that citizens’ homeowners insurance rates would increase due to hampered fire department operations. Property losses from fires that could have been stopped would more than double. Our citizens outside city limits could not count on us to back up their local volunteer agencies because of the staffing cuts. What is an acceptable level of risk for their safety, their family’s safety and their loved ones? Because if we lose the ambulance contract, we lose fifty percent of our capability, even for fires.
(Q) Do you think that there can be a resolution made to keep things as they are now?
(A) First of all, I just like to say I’m very disappointed that there was a communication breakdown on this between the city and the county, a severe communication breakdown. It sounds like frustration got the better of our officials. So they just threw their hands up in the air and said, well, sorry, we’re out?
If they had wanted to continue to provide excellent service to their citizens, both parties could have worked around it and work through their frustrations.
The county on the other hand has been dragging their feet on making a decision and trying to save money to county taxpayers because they’re already getting the service for almost nothing. Can you blame them though? Why buy the cow when you already get the milk for free?
Both City and County officials need to have open, clear, and real communication on the level of public service that they want to provide for the safety of their citizens.
Budgets are tight, but there are solutions, workable solutions out there, that are available. We mustn’t let rash decisions be made that fail to take into account people’s safety and emergency response. Like I said in a previous interview, Baker City and Baker County are playing Russian Roulette with the the safety of their citizens.
As a result of the city counsel’s decision, one could imagine tensions are heightened, but if there is a big enough push by the community, and our leaders can get over their own egos, I believe this issue can be settled fairly and equitably. But it will take a lot of pride to be swallowed, and it would have to happen soon.
If officials can somehow come to an agreement, it might be salvageable as is, even in the short-term beyond Sept 30. That would give all parties involved time to explore options, like the creation of a fire district. Lots of rural municipal fire departments have created them to solve these issues. We don’t have to reinvent the wheel here.
(Q) So, in order to make it a district, is that a long lengthy process? Do you know the process of that?
(A) From what little I know about creation of a district; I think that’s probably the best long-term solution for this. But I know it won’t be easy. Like I said there are multiple similar city based departments in the state our leaders could call in order to make this a successful plan for our community. We have a lot of public safety players, rural agencies and they want to maintain control of their own area and rightfully so. So, you have to have a lot of input, a lot of back and forth communication in order to make this work. You have to have community leaders that are willing to work hard on creating something that’s right for their constituents and their safety. That is not something that can take place with a short-term deadline that we have, this six months.
There are so many layers like an onion, you’ve got an onion in your hand, and you peel it open and there’s more and more layers. There’s a lot of nuances involved and that’s what makes it difficult for people to understand.
Wednesday, April 6 at 9am there will be a Baker County Commission meeting scheduled public hearing regarding this situation.
We need to have people at that meeting. Citizens of Baker City and Baker County need to be there to hold their elected leaders accountable for the safety that citizens are paying their local governments for. Citizens need to hold elected leaders accountable for the decisions that they make about their safety.
