Otsego city commissioners heard a report on the fire department’s philosophy of response times from fire chief Brandon Weber.
A report wasn’t on the agenda at the commission’s regular Monday, July 3, meeting, but commissioners asked Weber for an update.
The fire chief said the officers had discussed the current requirement of a four-minute response time for volunteer firefighters at a meeting the previous Sunday.
“We have one officer who’d like to open it up to anyone in the township or the city,” Weber said. “His standpoint is that they pay taxes for it, so they should be able to serve. The other five, including myself, disagree.”
The issue was raised in June when firefighter Hunter Krueger and a city hall full of supporters came to the city commission meeting to ask for flexibility on the policy, as Krueger is building a house outside the limit.
Commissioners asked Weber for information on what he was doing generally to look at the policy.
The fire chief explained one aspect—that it wasn’t really about fires.
“Eighty percent of what we do is medical,” Weber said. “Anything longer than four or five minutes, we aren’t providing a service.”
The four-minute time was necessary because of where most of the calls originate and because Plainwell area EMS was comparatively nearby.
“We’re basically in the city and along M-89,” Weber said. “That’s where our call volume is located, too.
“Our local EMS is also much closer than others.”
Commission Ryan Wieber asked why it was important for firefighters to beat EMS to the scene.
Weber said, “The point of medical first response is that we get there as quick as possible.
“We have a lower level of training that EMS, but we have more people.”
Starting oxygen on someone who might be having a heart attack was one example of something the firefighters do before EMS responders arrive to take over.
“A few minutes can make a difference,” Weber said.
Asked about other communities, Weber said that Plainwell handles things differently because they have a public safety model where the police officers on the road are also firefighters and medical first responders. He said most of the medical calls being handled by Otsego firemen would be handled by the on-duty public safety officers in Plainwell.
He said there was a limit to the number of calls the Otsego department could handle under the current model before it would have to go to something else that involved full-time people on duty.
“We will have the second amount of calls to Saugatuck Township,” Weber said.
Weber said the medical calls were not necessarily good for morale, compared to fighting fires.
“People want to be firefighters,” he said. “Now, we’re 85 percent medical and 15 percent everything else.”
City manager Thad Beard summed the situation up, saying, “Suffice to say, you’re looking into ways to increase participation and maintain service.”
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