Should the city of Gilroy be paying to have four firefighters
staff each engine, or are three firefighters enough?
THIS WEEK’S WEB POLL:
Should the city of Gilroy be paying to have four firefighters staff each engine, or are three firefighters enough?
Three: 10 Four: 1
■ The national average is 3 per truck, Gilroy should have 3, but then again I doubt the national average for an employee picnic is 13K, so maybe Gilroy is special?
■ NO! Gilroy is one of the few cities that have four on an engine. The city needs to rethink the response methodology. Does a fire engine need to respond to every emergency call? I don’t see the efficiency of both fire engine and ambulance responding to an emergency call.
■ Three! This is just one more taxpayer absorbed consequence of binding arbitration. Gilroy cannot sustain the high salaries and “old world” pensions. Either change or switch to County fire protection services!
■ THREE, until the city’s finances get better.
■ Seems excessive, since most of the calls are medical. When the ambulance staff arrives, that makes six personnel. The larger issue, I believe, is a way to respond to medical emergencies more efficiently.
■ For Gilroy, three is enough. There are only two cities of the 15 in Santa Clara County which budget for four firefighters. There are no high-rise buildings here. What do they need four for? Other emergency staff such as police and EMTs also respond.
■ If you can staff three and still keep the Sunrise Fire Station open all the time I would prefer to do that.
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