The federal agency that oversees workplace safety is proposing an update to the standards that govern fire departments.
While the changes aim to protect emergency responders, some Tri-County area fire chiefs are concerned the new requirements may place additional burdens on smaller departments that already are facing challenges.
“Additional requirements really need to be thought through, to see how they’re going to affect the volunteer fire service, and many of these services are in very rural areas,” said Logan-Trivoli Fire Protection District Chief David Tuttle.
The Occupational Safety and Health Administration, known commonly as OSHA, is seeking to modernize an outdated Fire Brigades standard that was first published in 1980.
The proposed new Emergency Response Standard would increase training requirements and medical screenings for firefighters, and also require more frequent inspection of emergency vehicles and equipment replacement.
Tuttle said the new standards could be costly and time consuming for Peoria-area departments that rely on volunteer firefighters.
“Any proposed standard that requires additional training, requires additional physicals the departments may or may not be presently doing, as far as the extensiveness, obviously would have a monetary effect to it — plus the time for the firefighters to seek out the additional physicals or the requirements that they'd have to meet,” said Tuttle, who also is president of Peoria County’s association of fire chiefs.
The Logan-Trivoli FPD has a staff of 40 volunteers serving Hanna City, Trivoli and Lake Camelot, said Tuttle. But he said many fire departments are having a difficult time meeting their staffing needs.
“The volunteer fire service nationwide has been struggling to not only retain firefighters, [but] the age of the firefighters has dramatically increased over the years,” he said. “We're not getting an influx of younger folks that are interested in volunteering for their local communities.”
The proposed changes have been published in the Federal Register and are currently in a comment period that has been extended until next Monday.
Tuttle said all the new requirements would mean volunteer firefighters in rural areas having to spend more time participating in training, traveling for medical appointments, and inspecting equipment and vehicles.
He said OSHA's proposal could make it harder to recruit new volunteers and retain the ones they already have.
“We're already asking a lot of our volunteer fire responders to respond on the calls for service,” he said. “Our particular fire department in western Peoria County, we're responding on about 550 calls a year, which is up — in the last 40 years, it's went up almost 450 calls. So the demand for service is great.”
Shared concerns
The waning interest in serving as a volunteer firefighter is a concern shared by Chief William Reis of the Schaeferville Fire Protection District on the south side of Pekin.
“Retention, long term, is where I believe we’ll have a problem,” said Reis. “We've got a lot of young members [and] as they start settling down with families, those type of impacts start really hitting and it becomes harder. So we're seeing a trend where I'm losing people at 23, 24, 25 — and not getting those long-term firefighters. Right now, there are two of us that are over the age of 40 on my department.”
An OSHA spokesperson told WCBU the agency is limited in what it can say about the proposal since the comment period is still open, but provided a statement that said the intent is “not to finalize a rule that compromises the public safety of any community.”
“We have taken steps during the rulemaking process to consider the economic impact on fire departments across the country,” the statement read, noting the update was developed with input from the National Volunteer Fire Council, the International Association of Fire Chiefs, the U.S. Fire Administration, and the National Fire Protection Association.
“Emergency responders are critical workers in our communities and deserve protections that keep up with today’s industry practices. We are proposing much-needed updates that will expand protections for emergency workers and bring our standards closer to common industry procedures.”
The International Association of Fire Fighters supports the new Emergency Response Standard, believing the changes are long overdue and account for advances over the past 40 years in the understanding of the risks firefighters take.
Testifying in a June 4 appearance before a subcommittee of the U.S. House Committee on Homeland Security, IAAF Director of Government Affairs Evan Davis said the Emergency Response Standard affirms “safe and efficient” fire department operations.
“Our top priority is to protect our members’ safety on the job and ensure their ability to serve their communities,” said Davis. “The lack of legally enforceable safety standards for firefighters is a glaring omission that must be corrected.”
Davis said the IAFF realizes rural and volunteer agencies operate “with finite funding from their tax base,” but that the OSHA proposal addresses the top priority.
“The stark reality we face is that firefighter safety, whether professional or volunteer, and the safety of the communities we serve, must be guided by principles and guidelines that place a supreme value on saving lives and protecting communities,” he said.
Under the proposed standards, fire departments would need to replace firefighting gear every 10 years. Additionally, the lifespan of emergency response vehicles would be limited to 20 years.
“The huge thing is, we run on average between 500-550 calls a year. So not all of our trucks are getting run every single day,” said Dunlap Fire Chief Brandon Lanier. “So it's hard to put a year cap on a truck that mostly sits in the bay and is just used 30-40 times a year, when over that 20-year lifespan, the truck is still good.”
Tuttle agreed a mandatory retirement of fire trucks would get costly for small departments.
“It’s all very expensive,” he said. “A fire engine that might have been $500,000 15 years ago is probably in the $850,000 range today for that same unit. Plus, you’re going to have to wait almost two years for that vehicle to be built.”
In Dunlap, Lanier oversees a hybrid department that staffs a full-time duty crew during the day, with a roster of about 25 volunteers on call from 3:30 p.m. to 7:30 a.m.
“We're already asking them to give up a ton of their time as it is, and this is just going to have more of a cost on to the fire department and on to their personal lives from being away from home,” said Lanier.
“A lot of our [equipment and truck] inspections of that nature are taken care of by our day crews and our day staff. But with the added wellness, we are going to have to lean on the volunteers more to come in and help after hours to make sure we're getting everything accomplished.”
Lanier said the changes could put a strain on response times, particularly if the department has to reduce staff or downsize the fleet to comply with the new standard. However, he does see a positive side to OSHA's proposal.
“Some of the training standards are good, because we should be training and preparing for that day when we're needed in our community,” he said. “But some of them is going to be putting a time constraint onto our members and onto our staff that they're not going to be able to fill, due to other obligations and other jobs.”
With a service area of 0.44 square miles, the Schaeferville FPD is the smallest in Tazewell County. Reis said his all-volunteer staff is limited to 20, and right now he has two vacancies.
While he appreciates the desire to make things safer for everyone, he said it could come with unintended consequences.
“The amount of time you’re expected to give, when you figure that most fire departments nowadays are responding to more emergency medical [calls] — we continue to add more and more that is hard for people to meet, between work schedules, life balance, and the fire department requirements,” said Reis.
His biggest concern is how volunteer departments already operating on tight budgets will be able to afford complying with the new regulations.
“Unfunded mandates, any additional requirements on costs are where I'm going to have the most struggle. We'll figure out how to get people trained appropriately because my responsibility as chief is to make sure that they're performing the jobs to the best possible standard and in the safest possible way.”
Reis said if and when the new OSHA standards are put in place, his department will “figure out a way to get it done.”
“I enjoy that we're trying to make things better and make things safer for everyone, both the public and our employees,” he said. “But, again, the state and federal government need to find ways to help with the funding if you're going to push that burden onto the local.”
