Potential Firefighter Cuts Will Impact Your Safety

COLUMBUS, Ohio -- Hundreds of firefighters’ jobs could be cut if voters don’t pass the city’s proposed half-percent income-tax increase.

NBC 4 GOT RIGHT TO THE POINT.

The Columbus Division of Police announced potential officer layoffs early last week. Police Chief Distelzweig said the division would cut or layoff 297 sworn officers if voters weren’t to approve the city’s half-percent income-tax increase on a special Tuesday, August 4, ballot.

Click here to read about CPD's potential cuts.

The city now is talking about significant cuts to the Columbus Division of Fire.

FAST FACTS:
- CFD said it has to trim about $19 million from its 2010 budget.
- It said 238 firefighters would be laid off and another 51 open positions would not be filled, including jobs for paramedics and arson investigators.
- The city income tax that will be on the special August ballot would raise the income tax from 2 percent to 2.5 percent.
- People who work in the city of Columbus would pay an extra $50 more per year for every $10,000 they earn.
- The city said the income-tax increase would generate some $100 million for the city.

It would be unrealistic to think the cuts wouldn’t impact the safety of remaining firefighters, along with the citizens they serve, Jack Reall, president of IAFF Local 67, said.

A string of South Side arsons and the resulting charred, boarded up homes are a reminder of why it’s important for a city to have enough firefighters.

“Because if we can't get a hold of them, if we cut them, then they won't be able to take care of the fires and it spreads through the neighborhood,” resident Adam Gillespie said.

Response times would increase significantly.

“Which is going to put our citizens at risk. It’s obvious that our citizens are going to feel it,” Reall said.

Reall also said cuts would put firefighters at risk, too.

“For us, it's scary. This is not just positions we're losing: This is increasing our chances at line-of-duty injuries or firefighter line-of-duty deaths,” Reall said.

The cuts would be the equivalent of losing seven fire stations, NBC 4 was told, but Reall said the Division was not sure if it would cut entire stations or scale back across the board.

“You just can't take 20 percent of your fire department away and expect to still operate the same,” he said.

It would be the first time for Columbus firefighter layoffs.

A spokesperson for the Columbus Division of Fire said the $19 million must be trimmed if the city can't find additional revenue and although it's a real issue that will affect citizens, he said it is what it is.

The potential cuts would also mean the loss of 122 paramedics.

Reall said the cuts could double the average response time from the current average of seven minutes.

Reall also said suburban medics would be called upon to do more since they currently use a mutual aid system.

Many paramedics are nationally certified, so they should be able to obtain jobs in other cities.

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