Dixon fire chief stresses need for more staffing

DIXON – The Dixon City Council approved increasing fire department staffing after the chief stressed the critical need to have more emergency responders to effectively serve the community.

In January, Dixon Fire Chief Ryan Buskohl approached the City Council about pursuing a FEMA Staffing for Adequate Fire and Emergency Response, or SAFER grant, which could pay for salaries and benefits for three more firefighters for three years and increase department staff from 17 to 20.

[ Dixon Fire Chief: Staff shortage straining emergency response efforts ]

The city wasn’t successful in receiving the grant, and Buskohl returned to the council Monday asking for authorization to hire three new firefighters as soon as possible so they can begin training in February.

Buskohl said emergency response efforts are being strained by growing call volume and other factors, and the department is not able to meet fire response standards because of the shortage of staff.

“Our workload has never been greater than what it is today,” he said. “Without addressing these issues, we are definitely going to see a decreased level of service to the community.”

Staff fatigue is an issue, and departments in general aren’t able to rely as much on mutual aid from surrounding departments, he said.

“We’re relied on to protect this community truly 365 days, 24 hours a day,” Buskohl said.

Dixon Fire Department staffing is “dangerously low” as it receives regular overlapping calls, meaning there’s more than one emergency to respond to at a time, he said. That also means the department is not able to respond to other calls, such as mutual aid for other towns.

The department had 325 overlapping calls as of Dec. 8.

“That’s 90% of the year we’ve been running two calls at the same time,” he said.

Inadequate staffing can lead to problems for the safety and well-being of citizens and responders, as well as present a liability risk and potential increased costs from injury or death, Buskohl said.

The cost of the first year for added staff would be about $270,550 and $844,000 across the first three years.

City Finance Director Becky Fredericks presented four funding options for the staff, which could be paid for through the emergency vehicle fund and possibly COVID-19 relief funds.

Buskohl said there’s enough in the current fiscal year budget to start the process immediately, and the council has time to look at different options for the future.

Council member Dennis Considine said they need to go forward with increasing the staff, and Mayor Li Arellano Jr. said he sees the need for additional staff, but he would abstain from the vote because of questions he has with the operations and funding.

The council approved the staff increase with Arellano abstaining.