Fire Chief Vows That Budget Cuts Won't Deplete Services

When a resident dials 911, an ambulance is not always the first vehicle to arrive.

"We send the quickest vehicle, regardless of whether it's a fire truck or an ambulance," said Naperville Fire Chief Mark Puknaitis. "The only difference is that sometimes a fire engine or truck can get there in one minute when an ambulance will take five. Those four minutes can mean someone's life."

Puknaitis said he's confident that the department's speedy response time will not be negatively affected by changes he's making in order to meet growing budget constraints in the city. deficit for the upcoming fiscal year, which begins May 1, 2011, and every city entity is feeling the crunch.

Staff at the fire department, not unlike others in , have been looking for ways to pinch pennies, and Puknaitis said he has a solution. He plans to save between $300,000 and $500,000 in overtime costs each year by reducing his fleet of ambulances from seven to five on days when, ordinarily, personnel would be called in to work overtime.

Puknaitis began serving as chief in Naperville in 2008. He recognizes that occasionally reducing the local ambulance fleet is not an idea that everyone embraces. Rick Sander, president of the Naperville Professional Fire Fighters Union 4302, is among those meeting the notion with scrutiny.

"We feel the need for that same level of services has not decreased," said Sander, who represents 185 firefighters in . "The city hasn't gotten any smaller. While we understand the financial situation the city is in, we don't think there should be a decrease in the services we provide."

Puknaitis doesn't consider the move a decrease in services. He said the fact is, staffing a firefighter when he's not scheduled to work means he or she will be paid time-and-a-half for a full, 24-hour shift. Depending on how many are called in, it can cost the department almost $5,000 a day, Puknaitis said. He won't go below five ambulances, he said, but he feels confident that first responders will continue to develop the same level of care.

"We took a thorough look at how we deliver our services," he said. "We're in the risk business here, and unfortunately, our risk is dealing with lives. That being said, I have to feel confident that the level of services we provide meet the demands of our community."

All department vehicles—whether an ambulance, fire engine, or truck—are stocked with first-aid equipment including ventilators, IVs, oxygen, wound-care kits and more. And personnel know how to use them. The 49 people staffed at Naperville's 10 stations on any given day are "cross-trained" as both firefighters and paramedics, Puknaitis said.

"Just because you see a fire engine doesn't mean it's en route to put out a fire," he said. " … Our paramedics may be on a fire engine one day and an ambulance the next."

Puknaitis pointed to a color-coded map on the wall of his office to identify the service areas for each station.

On any given day, the department has seven ambulances, eight engines and three trucks ready to respond to the nearest emergency. Trucks are specialized in fire rescue; the type Naperville uses are "quints." Named for the five functions they provide, they are equipped with pumps, water tanks, fire hoses, ground ladders and aerial devices. Fire engines are "customarily used for fire extinguishing," Puknaitis said.

Ambulances vary in that they have gurneys and stretchers to carry people. They are also the only vehicles approved for patient transport to a medical facility, according to the Illinois Department of Public Health.

"We do a really good job about monitoring our services and our response time," Puknaitis said. "We have a 90 percent standard and a 10 percent margin of error. … It'd be impossible for us to cover 100 percent of the city 100 percent of the time. It's just not realistic and it's not the expectation."

Sander said the standard of care for the is a six-minute response 90 percent of the time, and there's a reason the city approved the level of services it has. He knows the ambulance fleet will not be decreased on a full-time basis, but still feels uncomfortable with the decision.

"Is it a consolation that they're not shut down permanently? Yes. But we don't know what the future holds," he said. "Obviously, we can't prove that this will have a direct impact. But as far as I'm concerned, fewer ambulances is going to create longer response times and transport times. I look at this as a lose for the city."

He stressed that a lack of overtime pay is not anyone's qualm.

"Our complaint is fewer services," he said. "But we will make it work. Firefighters adapt and overcome."