Some firefighters say budget cuts could jeopardize safety
March 7, 2005, 09:57 PM CST

Memphis firefighters are expected to react quickly when a house or building goes up in flames.

But firefighter Joe Norman says the City's money problems could leave him unprotected when the heat is on.

"We're inside fighting a fire. We can't see 360 degrees around the house. That's what the chief does," says Norman.

And Norman says the chiefs aren't there. Fallout from budget cuts means fewer chiefs in charge of each fire scene. Norman's nervous.

"Somebody's got to step back and look at the big picture and you can't do that if you're inside a smoky house," he says.

Deputy Fire Director Alvin Benson says the Department has been cutting back. "Typically, if a battalion chief is off on vacation or is off on sick, then we would replace that person with an overtime person. So the last few days we've elected to leave some of those positions vacant."

But he says there have been no problems so far and no complaints. Late last year, Memphis Fire would put 30 or 40 workers per day on an overtime shift. Now, they're down to about ten.

Benson admits it could take Chiefs longer to get to the scene of a fire, but he says Lieutenants can fill in until they get there.

Norman says the Fire Department is taking a gamble. "They're going to do it until somebody gets killed and then they're going to jerk their knees and try to come up with a different approach to it."

Benson was emphatic that if the Department gets any indication that their decision-making is jeopardizing the lives of firefighters, they will make adjustments.