Published: November 25, 2009 12:21 am      

Firefighters contest proposed cutbacks

CUMBERLAND — Members of the Cumberland Fire Department made emotional appeals against staff cutbacks at Tuesday’s Mayor and Council public meeting.

The city is seeking ways to make up for a $1.33 million budget cut from the state and is negotiating cuts for the fire department, potentially including staff reductions and the elimination of the department’s current management structure. The city and fire department met last Thursday for their first negotiating session.

“Can we honestly say that these decisions will do no harm with reduced abilities?” said Vince Pyle with the fire department. “Are you willing to trivialize your city? The citizens of Cumberland will ultimately realize a decrease in services rendered and an increase in insurance.”

Lt. Barry Winters arrived in full uniform to discuss the possible elimination of the lieutenant position in the Cumberland Fire Department. “The mayor, council and city administrator want to do away with lieutenants,” said Winters. “It appears the city leaders have no use for my leadership and supervision abilities.”

Winters said that with his potential demotion in July, the fire department will lack anyone certified in the care and maintenance of protective equipment, and that could put future grants from the Federal Emergency Management Agency, which require such certification, in jeopardy.

“I understand that cuts are necessary,” said Winters. “But if it isn’t broke, don’t fix it.”

One point of contention was the use of volunteers instead of professional firefighters.

“(The Corriganville) volunteer fire department missed more than 20 percent (of 235 calls). We’re going to ask volunteers to come in here and miss 20 percent of the calls to the city?” said Jeff DeHaven, chief of the Corriganville Volunteer Fire Department. “To me, you’re putting lives in danger. ... I don’t understand what you’re doing.”

“We’re not planning to go to a volunteer program or not man the stations,” said Mayor Lee Fiedler.

“We don’t want to do anything other than provide labor for our fire department with paid, fully professional firefighters,” said Councilman Butch Hendershot.

According to City Administrator Jeff Repp, the discussion of volunteers was sparked by a proposed plan offered by the city on Thursday which is still under negotiation. “There was nothing concrete put down in the sense of ‘This is what we’re doing ...’” said Repp.

Other topics discussed during the meeting included the purchase of new check processing software to help the efficiency of city workers and the replacement of a bus kiosk in downtown Cumberland. “Is the check software or replacement kiosk worth (a) 9-day-old’s life?” said Ken McKenzie, a firefighter and former paramedic who has worked in the field for 17 years.

“We’re going to take care of the city of Cumberland. We can no longer afford to continue taking care of an area,” said Fiedler, who says that one of the issues facing the fire department is the fact that they must often take calls from areas outside Cumberland, such as Frostburg. “We want a program that the city can afford that will take care of the city.”

“The you-know-what’s going to hit the fan when you’re up in Frostburg and we need you in Cumberland,” said Hendershot. “We need to do something different.”

Contact Cory Galliher at cgalliher@times-news.com.