Dispatching firefighters

Budget control

Regarding “Firefighters spurn contract on eve of city budget vote” (Page A1, Thursday), I was disappointed to see that the city and the firefighters failed to reach a contract agreement.

A couple of years ago, while I was getting up from my desk, I tripped on my recycle bin and then hit my arm on the cube divider and proceeded to fall and slam my posterior flat on the floor.

Evidently I got up too quickly, and I am one of a percentage of folks who pass out from the trauma and spike in blood pressure.

At any rate, when my coworkers came in to see what the commotion was and saw me beginning to pass out, not knowing what was going on with me physically, they called 911. Within minutes an ambulance, an SUV and a fire truck arrived at my office with no fewer than eight firefighters/EMS personnel.

Now, don’t get me wrong. I am extremely grateful for the prompt response, and I do not in any way want to diminish what our firefighters do and the fact they put their lives on the line for all of us in the city every day. But does a person falling in his office require all of that personnel and equipment? This was not a multi-car collision or a building fire where there are many unknowns. This was one person falling. I am sure the caller was clear to the 911 dispatcher about what had happened. If I was having a heart attack, and I suspect that’s what my colleagues were concerned about, wouldn’t an ambulance and a couple of trained personnel with a portable EKG and defibrillator be sufficient?

The system of dispatching so much equipment and personnel for the simplest of incidents is just not financially sustainable. There is no reason to have to close stations and idle equipment; we just need to utilize what we have more efficiently.

Are there any other cities that use this model? This has boggled my mind as a manager since arriving to Houston 25 years ago. Maybe once we get that straightened out, we can both control the budget, while rewarding our emergency personnel with adequate compensation and benefits.

Tom Fricke, Houston