Mark R. Madler
The Burbank Fire Department has faced understaffed fire stations
during daytime hours because of a lack of funds for overtime hires to
fill in for personnel in training.
The dearth in personnel, however, severely affects department
response times to emergencies, fire officials said.
"It's not optimal, not nearly as good as what we would like it to
be," said Capt. Lew Stone, president of the Burbank firefighters
union. "But it's still what we consider to be a safe and responsible
Fire Department."
That a station might not be staffed while a crew is out training
is not something unusual, said Assistant Fire Chief Tracy Pansini,
who has been with the department for 25 years.
Three stations that serve 95% of the city's population -- Station
11, Downtown; Station 12, on Hollywood Way; and Station 13, near Bob
Hope Airport -- are always staffed, Pansini said.
But stations 14, 15 and 16 -- which serve the city's Northwest
District, the border between the Rancho District and Magnolia Park
and the hillside -- may not be staffed at all times because of
training, though there is no requirement that the stations be staffed
continuously when its firefighters train, Stone said.
Station 14 is down the most, "but being right in the middle of the
city, it's easy for the other [stations] to cover," he said.
Each member of the department is required to have 240 hours of
training every year. But those hours do not include specialized
training, such as for urban search and rescue that members are
currently taking, Pansini said.
The department received a federal grant for the search-and-rescue
training, which included $22,000 for backfilling, or hiring of
off-duty personnel to staff a station while its regular personnel
train, Pansini said.
That amount, however, lasted about two weeks, Pansini said.
"It doesn't do us a lot of good to provide money for classroom
training if they don't provide the money for the backfill, too,"
Stone said.
What the city didn't receive through the grant is paid for with
its $1.7-million overtime budget.
The search-and-rescue training requires specialized props the city
does not have, so department members go to the San Fernando Valley to
receive instruction with the Los Angeles City Fire Department,
Pansini said.
"Because it's in close proximity, we can still get them back in
reasonable time if we have a second or third alarm fire," Pansini
added.
There are seven more days of search-and-rescue training for
firefighters to complete by September, Stone said.
