Staffing concerns at the Galesburg Fire Department along with an increased volume of emergency calls has affected the response time to fires, however, full-time relief may be hard to come by as pension costs continue to rise.
From 2011 to 2015 the average response time has gone from 3 minutes 33 seconds to 3 minutes 59 seconds. During that same time period, the number of emergency alarms has risen 15 percent. Fire Chief Tom Simkins said he’s lost two firefighters that have not been replaced in that time which means he’s doing more with fewer men, all while emergency calls rise.
“The guys are not always in position or they’re on a heart attack, we can’t break off a heart attack to go to a house fire a lot of times,” Simkins said.
Right now the GFD operates with 11 men a shift, and is budgeted for 44 total firefighters. That’s nine fewer than it had in 2004, when the department had a total of 51 firefighters and ran shifts of 12.
Rising pension payments for firefighters has been a growing concern on the city’s budget and Simkins said he realizes that. He isn’t asking for more firefighters, but rather that the city avoid cutting more firefighters.
“We went from 12 guys to 11, that’s like our Alamo,” Simkins said. “If we have to go below 11, I’ve only got two guys on a truck or I’ve only got two stations. We can’t make the 4-minute response and I’m not going to go to two men on a truck. I’m just not.”