Fire engine issue a matter of life, death.

Byline: GARY NAUTA For The Register-Guard

AS PRESIDENT of Eugene Firefighters Union, I have very grave concerns regarding the direction the City Council and Budget Committee are moving on the closing of the Valley River Fire Station. The plan is to redeploy the station's fire engine and its nine firefighters to the Santa Clara area, leaving only an ambulance and paramedics at the Valley River station.

With the exception of three councilors (David Kelly, Bonny Bettman and Betty Taylor), the council's members appear willing to allow city officials to make the call on a true life and death issue, while not listening to line firefighters' concerns. Eugene firefighters are truly concerned that these decisions will cost lives. The reality is that the money to keep a fire engine at the station is in the budget; however, it is being allocated to services other than the essential services of police and fire. This decision flies in the face of what the citizens of Eugene have repeatedly asked for.

During our earlier discussions with the City Council, there was much debate regarding who was providing the true figures regarding response times. The facts are these: If the engine is moved to Santa Clara from the Valley River Fire Station, response times would be greatly increased.

The city provided response time numbers from simulations. The following response times are not simulations, they are accurate response times from when Engine 9 was out of quarters: If Engine 9 were to respond to 425 Alexander Loop (an elderly care facility with frequent calls for service), it could do so in three minutes. Should that engine be relocated, either the Sheldon engine would respond in eight minutes from Coburg Road, or the downtown engine would respond in 13 minutes from across the Ferry Street Bridge.

If the goal is the sought-after national standard of a four-minute engine company response, then we are making the wrong decision by relocating Engine 9. A fire official was quoted in the April 13 Register-Guard as saying, "Residents could expect to see firefighters arrive slightly later, but it would be just outside a four-minute response." These numbers are dramatically greater than the four-minute response. Remember, without oxygen, brain death occurs in four to six minutes, and a house fire doubles in size every minute. The Budget Committee is making a life and death decision.

Acting City Manager Jim Carlson said that Engine 9 responded to only two structure fires in the past three years. And now for the rest of the story: Since the year 2000, Engine 9 has responded to 59 fire and explosion calls. During the same period, it responded to 1,572 rescue and emergency medical calls. And during the same period, Engine 9 responded to a total of 2,180 total calls for service.

Firefighters do more than respond to structure fires. Each year, calls for service in this area increase as the number of residents increases, and the Valley River area has the fastest-growing population in the city of Eugene. Should the engine and its firefighters be relocated, these 1,010 calls per year would be divided among the Sheldon engine and the downtown engine - already the two busiest engine companies in the city!

We are all aware that city administration explains that the Valley River Fire Station is not closing, and that Medic 9 will remain behind to answer calls for emergency medical service. And now for the rest of the story: Medic 9 is one of four ambulances in Eugene, and one of seven ambulances working within the Eugene-Springfield ambulance service areas. These seven ambulances serve an area of 2,500 square miles, stretching west to the tunnel on Highway 126, north to Monroe, south to Pleasant Hill, and east past McKenzie Bridge. The medic units in this area are often busy and, more often than not, out of the station responding to calls for medical emergencies.

The city administration is attempting to convince the public that by leaving Medic 9 at the Valley River Fire Station, they are somehow addressing the public's concern for response. The reality is this: Medic 9 will most often not be available for primary response inside the service area once served by the Valley River fire engine.

Within 20 minutes on April 14, five medical calls came into the 911 center. At that moment, we were out of ambulances. Three were busy in the Ferry Street Bridge area. An ambulance from Springfield had to respond in Eugene because the system was stretched beyond its capabilities. We run out of ambulances quite often, and this is an excellent example of why we have chosen to provide primary response from fire engines and secondary response from ambulances. Moving away from the proven model will not work.

Should the Budget Committee choose to relocate the Valley River fire engine, the public will lose its first line of defense against structure fires and medical emergencies. The decision is one that will undoubtedly place firefighters and the public we serve at risk!

Gary Nauta is president of the Eugene Firefighters Association, Local 851.