TACOMA, Wash. — The City of Tacoma is working to finalize its budget as the city faces a $24 million deficit. Meantime, many firefighters say the City of Tacoma is making cuts in the wrong places.
On Tuesday, the Tacoma Firefighters Union, IAFF Local 31, held a press conference to call on city leaders to increase funding for the fire department and not eliminate 16 rover positions, as currently proposed.
In November, firefighters with the union attended a City Council meeting to give public comment about their concerns as well.
In July, the Tacoma Fire Department told KING 5 call volumes increased more than 30% between 2003 and 2023. IAFF Local 31 said Tuesday they do not have enough resources to keep up, and that if the current proposed city budget is approved, response times will get worse.
“I would say neglect that would be the best way to describe how my experience has been,” Ryan Pregent, a firefighter who has been with the department for six years.
He shared a situation where his engine had to respond to a car fire more than 10 minutes away due to the closer engines being busy. He said by the time they got there, the fire has spread and two cars were on fire.
“Normally, that would have been the end of the story, but in typical Tacoma fashion, we showed up and the fire pump wouldn't work and was only fixed after I had to crawl inside the pump, and manually engage it with a socket wrench,” said Pregent. “This is simply just one example of what we deal with on a daily basis across the entire city. The citizens of Tacoma deserve so much better from us.”
The union said the department's response times are, on average, around double what they should be. The city's proposed budget would eliminate 16 rover positions, which are firefighters who fill-in during times of low staffing to reduce overtime.
“At the fire department we continue to make do with less,” said Allyson Hinzman, IAFF Local 31 President. “The true burden has fallen on our firefighters.”
Hinzman said even if the rovers are funded, the department still won't be up to standard.
“We're at that critical breaking point,” said Hinzman. “Our rigs are failing; our equipment is failing.”
In a statement Tacoma City Councilmember Joe Bushnell said in part: "Approximately two-thirds of our $641 million General Fund budget is dedicated to keeping our community safe. The proposal even increases Fire Department funding by $13 million in the General Fund."
The City of Tacoma did acknowledge the elimination of the rover program could lead to “slightly” longer response times.
The City of Tacoma said the rover program was meant to be a temporary solution and that the firefighters will not be laid off, but assigned to specific fire stations, rather than filling in at various stations when needed.
The Tacoma City Council will meet on Tuesday, Dec. 3, for a first reading of the budget and a second reading and final vote is expected to happen on Tuesday, Dec. 10.