Fire Department Staff Growth with No New Firehouses

The city fire department staff is growing substantially, yet, not one new fire station has been built in the last 5 years. Why is that?

The staff is growing at a 6% rate over the last 6 years with the big increase beginning in 2015 when the city added ambulance and paramedic service. Of course this is being "kind" as the growth rate is 7.6% over the last 4 years. Did anyone notice their county taxes going down when the city added this service? No one did as the county just moved the ambulances and paramedics to other locations within the county.

So over the last three years the fire department staff has increased from 84 to 115, a 37% increase in staff with only a marginal increase in service.

The city has added 2 assistant chiefs, 2 battalion chiefs, 3 captains and 3 lieutenants. They certainly have the higher pay management well covered.

The population served has increased at an annual compound rate of 4.7% according to the city's numbers. So why is the fire department staff growing at 6%(or 7.6%)?

One reason is the growth in business fire inspections. I'll bet the business community is very happy with the 3 fold increase in inspections!

We can see the total fire department calls increased at an annual rate of 4.3% over the last 4 years, yet the staff is growing at a 6%(or 7.6%) rate.

It should be noted that as the city adds staff, they are locking in long-term commitments for health benefits and pension payments until the recipients die. Keep in mind these employee and retiree benefits are guaranteed by the citizens tax dollars.

Thus it appears that about 2/3 of the staff increase was caused by the city assuming Emergency Medical Services(EMS) responsibilities. Does everyone feel medically safer and more secure since the city threw out the Williamson County award winning EMS service?