Wilmington firefighters are up in arms over fire chief Anthony Goode’s decision to shut down one of the city’s fire engine until a new administration begins work next year.
Members of Wilmington’s firefighter community protested the shutdown of fire Engine 6 on Union Street in city council chambers Monday.
The shutdown is the latest effort by the city to save on overtime in the fire department budget.
Wilmington City Councilman Bob Williams said around eight years ago, the fire department’s budget for overtime was around $1.5 million. This year, he said the chief only allotted $500,000 for overtime – anticipating the rest would be raised in grants. But the grants fell through, and the chief started implementing the rolling bypass practice to save money.
Rolling bypass involved shutting down an engine at a different station every day on a rotating basis.
Wilmington Firefighters union vice president Timothy Taggart says this new solution isn’t any better.
“It’s been an unaccepted practice by both the union and the fire administration in the past," Taggart said. "So for the fire administration to continue this practice again is a dangerous practice for the citizens of Wilmington and the Wilmington firefighters.”
The engine at Station 6 was not operating the night of a deadly Canby Park fire in September that resulted in the death of two firefighters.
Wilmington city councilman Bob Williams said it would have been the first due to respond if operating.
He added that Engine 6 is part of a series of trucks needed to respond to high-rise fires. When Engine 5 is scheduled to be first to respond to a scene, Engine 6 would be the first to supply water.
“Now those firefighters can’t begin to do any kind of search and rescue or evacuation until they wait for the next truck to come in, which is going to put people in danger," Williams said.
Williams adds the International Firefighters Association recommends 44 firefighters handle a high-rise fire. With engine 6 out of operation, only 30 Wilmington firefighters will be working at any given time.
Williams also echoed Taggart’s call to reevaluate the fire department’s budgetary practices – saying current measures are irresponsible.
“So we started off in our budgetary process being undermined with the conditional company closure as a way to augment their overtime salaries" Williams said.
Williams said the closure could also put New Castle County residents at risk, as some of their resources are required to fill the gap created by Wilmington’s station closure.
