ELKTON — Covering an area larger than Baltimore City with a fraction of the personnel, Singerly Fire Company provides service to nearly 7,000 calls annually.
“I flirt walking the razor’s edge of how much of a beating our people are taking because of our call volume,” said Singerly Captain of Career Services Antonio Leonardi.
Per shift, Leonardi said SFC has five career personnel on duty: a Lieutenant, a paramedic and three certified EMTs. In addition to the career personnel are a number of volunteers – the number of which fluctuates day to day.
Singerly Paramedic Robert Muller evaluates a patient in the back of an ambulance before transporting them to Union Hospital in Elkton.
EMS calls are the most common calls for Singerly. They are responded to by one of Singerly’s three active ambulances, which often leads to a strain on resources, according to Leonardi.
“If we go above the three emergencies at a time, we could send a chase truck; which does not solve the problem because we may need to transport a patient,” said Leonardi. “We could even send a fire truck with EMS equipment to stabilize, but we would still be waiting on an ambulance for transport.”
But sending more vehicles in place of ambulances is only feasible if Singerly has the staffing to do so, which, in most cases, they do not.
“We could have five or six volunteers here, but no drivers to get them anywhere,” said Singerly’s most active volunteer Matt Gandy. “We heavily rely on our career staff for drivers.”
A Singerly fire engine sits in the parking lot of the Elkton Circuit Court after a fire alarm indicated a fire on the third floor of the building. After investigation, responders concluded that a fire was not present and the alarm was due to due getting into one of the detectors.
When a situation arises where Singerly’s call volume outweighs its on-duty personnel – which Gandy says happens four out of seven days of the week – Singerly relies on mutual aid partners in Chesapeake City; North East; Rising Sun; West Grove, Pa. and Newark Del. to pick up calls.
“When the calls are a strain on our resources and we have to rely on other companies, it becomes a strain on their resources,” said Singerly Government Affairs Chair Sam Goldwater.
Before Singerly calls upon its mutual aid partners, it is common for Singerly personnel to run back-to-back calls for hours on end to keep up with call volume.
“Our guys will sometimes drop someone off at the hospital and head right to another call,” said Leonardi. “When you think about your people, they need to eat, drink, sleep, take a moment to themselves – you name it – in order for them to do their job efficiently.”
Singerly responders prepare to transport a patient from a nursing home to Union Hospital.
In the midst of running back to back calls, Singerly responders may need to clean and restock a response vehicle, which renders the vehicle out of service temporarily; further straining their resources.
Once the call volume simmers and the vehicles are cleaned and restocked, responders then need to find time to file post-call reports.
“It takes a toll on a lot of people here,” said Gandy. “It sucks because we can’t do our job if we don’t have time to sleep or eat.”
Across Singerly’s 89 square mile district, Singerly has a total of three stations – the main station near Elkton High School, a substation along Route 40 in Elkton and another substation in Fair Hill.
With the main station being the only site staffed 24/7, Singerly’s personnel shortage prevents SFC from properly utilizing all of their stations and equipment.
“We have millions of dollars in equipment in our stations but it is useless if we don’t have at least someone driving it or a qualified crew to staff it,” said Leonardi.
Singerly Fire responders talk about calls as they write reports.
Board of Directors member and Singerly Paramedic Robert Muller said that solving the career staffing issues will allow Singerly to staff its substations and provide better services to the 54,000 residents in its district.
“We just need to plant one seed and it will grow,” said Muller. “Putting just one career person at a substation will attract more volunteers.”
In order to hire more career personnel, SFC staff say that they will need more funding, as the current budget isn’t even enough to cover its operating costs.
“People are our most precious resource,” said Leonardi. “And if we had more money we could potentially have more people.”
To address funding shortages, Singerly recently proposed that the Town of Elkton increase its payout to Singerly from $0.012 per $100 of the town’s assessed value, to $0.15 per $100 of the town’s assessed value. Town officials have stated that this proposal may potentially be on the ballot during next year’s town elections.
Firefigthing gear hangs on racks in the Singerly Fire Department’s main station in Elkton.
In an effort to attract volunteers, SFC’s service learning program works with over 4,000 kids in grades 6-12 every year to educate them on fire safety and help kids gain interest in fire and EMS work. The hope is to instill kids with that interest so that, when they are of age, they will volunteer.
To attract volunteers sooner, Singerly Fire is working with the Cecil County School of Technology (CCST) to provide students the opportunity to graduate high school as fully trained fire and EMS personnel.
Considering the county’s projected growth, SFC personnel predict that, by 2025, they will receive over 9,300 calls a year.
“Staffing is a national problem,” said Leonardi. “We can use help, but right now, financially we cannot afford help.”
Cecil Whig Clip
https://www.cecildaily.com/news/singerly-fire-company-seeks-to-expand-staffing/article_203614e3-61f1-5730-a58a-c6d6f51fec4b.html
