Portland Fire Department plans changes in response to report

Portland firefighters respond to a two-alarm fire at 86 Exchange St. in the city's Old Port Monday morning. The fire is believed to have started in the basement.
Troy R. Bennett | BDN
By William Hall, The Forecaster
Posted July 29, 2013, at 5:59 p.m.

PORTLAND, Maine — The Portland Fire Department is preparing to roll out a series of organizational and procedural changes in response to a consultant’s study conducted earlier this year.

Fire Chief Jerome LaMoria on Friday said the department will begin phasing in the changes by the end of the summer. While he wouldn’t discuss details, the chief said they will increase the department’s capacity for emergency medical service, fire prevention and services for island residents.

Another focus will be the department’s staffing — an issue that has attracted scrutiny from the City Council and the public. In fact, the council’s concerns about overtime wages paid to firefighters in 2012 prompted the $39,000 audit by Maryland-based consultant Public Safety Solutions.

PSS began reviewing the department’s staffing and operations in January, and released findings to the city on March 27 in a 523-page report.

The report includes 169 recommendations. Among them are proposals to reorganize the department’s management, reschedule firefighter shifts, overhaul policies and even rename the department.

“A lot of the report confirmed what many in our organization already realized,” LaMoria said.

The report also recommends hiring 41 new firefighters in order to reduce overtime, bringing the PFD’s total employment to 270. That suggestion has already been scorned by City Councilors Ed Suslovic and John Anton.

Portland’s ratio of fire personnel per capita is 3.5 per 1,000, according to Suslovic — about double the ratio of comparable cities. “We’re out of whack,” he said last month.

Meanwhile, the department has been mulling the recommendations, but isn’t ready yet to announce any changes in staffing.

LaMoria said a planned 90-day review of the audit has been completed, and internal focus groups are now developing specific responses.

“[The audit] gives us a lot of information to develop a multi-year plan that will allow us to correct deficiencies and build on our strengths,” LaMoria said. “It will allow us to be less reactive and to be more proactive.”

The first phase of changes will be followed by a second, yearlong phase, and a final phase of major changes over the next three to five years, the chief said.

Some of the phase-one changes may result in improvements to the PFD marine operations, another area that has been under scrutiny in the wake of two much-publicized accidents involving the city’s fire boat.

On Jan. 8, an arbitrator reduced the suspensions of two firefighters who were operating The City of Portland IV when it was damaged in an October 2011 accident. The decision renewed controversy about the way the city handled the accident — and brought back memories of an accident in November 2009.

LaMoria said the phase-one plan calls for better training of the fire boat’s three-person crews.

“Basically, we were asking [fire boat staff] to do more than they were ready to do,” he said.

Improvements such as that will “run the gamut” of the PFD, LaMoria said. He said he expects some of them to be resisted by firefighters.

“Anytime you interject change, some people are going to feel uncomfortable,” he said. “But most in the department are eager for change, and recognize that it’s coming. They’ll rise to the occasion.”

http://bangordailynews.com/2013/07/29/news/portland/portland-fire-department-plans-changes-in-response-to-report/ printed on March 6, 2015