The city’s current budget proposal, which is set for a final vote Saturday, Oct. 1, calls for taking one of the city’s 22 fire trucks out of commission. And that truck would come from Dallas Fire Department Station No. 19, at 5600 E. Grand.
The station would retain its ambulance and fire engine, which carries water and always is first on the scene, but lose its ladder truck. Fire fighters use a ladder truck to work on the roof of a burning building and ventilate it. Trucks also carry heavy equipment, such as the Jaws of Life tool that frees passengers from car wrecks.
In May, the city analyzed its fire-and-rescue system, using computer software that other major cities, including New York and Los Angeles, have used to make their systems more efficient. It was the first time in 25 years the city had done such an analysis.
The resulting proposal calls for relocating three trucks in Oak Cliff and taking the No. 19 truck out of commission.
First Assistant City Manager A.C. Gonzalez says the change would save the city about $2 million a year, and they would increase average response times by 3 seconds. But some council members doubt that estimate.
The city would have to spend money on construction to build new garages to house the trucks at the other stations, plus there would be moving costs. Gonzalez says the savings would outweigh those costs.
But how the changes would save the city money is murky. Gonzalez says the annual savings would come mostly from overtime costs and reduced maintenance and fuel costs from the one truck taken out of commission.
The proposed 2011-2012 budget calls for hiring 200 new fire fighters, however, and that will reduce overtime costs once cadets graduate in April.
North Oak Cliff’s City Council members, Delia Jasso and Scott Griggs, say they doubt the $2 million figure.
“Moving the trucks doesn’t save any money,” says Griggs of District 3.
And it doesn’t make sense to take a truck the city already has paid for out of commission.
City Council has one meeting before the final budget vote on Saturday Oct. 1, and Jasso says she is asking for the budget vote to be delayed because of the fire-truck proposal.
