The only position that should have a vehicle is the on call fire investigator. To add to the cost some of these people dont even live in the city. Basically 40 gals of fuel per day is used to allow vehicles to go home with the person. using a cost of 3 dollars a gal thats 75 gals a day for a average yearly cost of about 75,000 dollars not counting upkeep for the vehicles. Again these costs are ones management has contol over. Other areas that would save money is eliminating the Fire Chiefs at Whitne and North Ada that are Chiefs with no firefighters, so you can add another 200,000 in savings. Firefighers today are very intelligent and a lot have degrees in a lot of areas where management could pass work assignments that need research to different stations and let the fire guys come up with ways to cut the budget without costing any Line Firefighter a position but could rid management of its top heavy management.

Last building the fire headquarters to almost the edge of the city limits (west of Maple Grove) means fire crews have to drive clear accross town to deal with staff. The best solution is to let the fire chief go back to firefighting and bring in fresh ideas on cost efficiency and rid the departments wastefull spending in the higher echelon. Its time for a new city counsel person to be elected that doesnt just shake their heads yes when Dave makes a decision. My last commnet that the closing of North Adas station on childen increases the chance for firefighters injuries and deaths and also the public at large

In 2000 upon takeover of Whitney, Boise fire chief Renn Ross decided not to replace Whitney’s fire chief who retired a few months after the consolidation. In the year 2007 came around Chief Ross retired from Boise, he got the Whitney Fire commissioners to make him Whitney Fire chief with salary and bennies coming to approx 85,000 dollars. The only other employee is a part time secratery, when Ross hits 5 yrs on the job he is entitled to another retirement. The new Boise Fire Chief Dennis Doan should have said there’s no reason for remaking a chiefs position 7 yrs after it was discontinued by Boise Fire Chief Renn Ross and an area of coverage only about 9 sq miles. Now do you think there might have been a little back room chat between Doan and Ross to make this sweet deal to take place where Ross might tell the City Counsel on who he thought would be the best choice to take his spot upon retirement, a little birdie tells me I might be right, but you be the judge and if you think different I would love to know your view why this position makes sense. North Ada also has an administer or whatever they call him who was with the Ada paramedics and the part time secretary.

Also when Doan got chief he appointed some good ol boys to Fire Marshal and other areas that had very little expierence for those positions. It’s my opinion a chief for Boise fire, should have been done like the new police chief, someone not connected to past management and would make decisions on jobs without the bias of having been on the department.

If the crew had been in Quarters off Cartwright this call to North mountain would have been their call, but for some reason they didn’t respond. Having station 9 on Sycamore responding basically left a vast area that should another fire or med call happened at same time, the response from another station would take significantly longer than the guidelines that Boise fire uses to place their fire houses. If proper fire management from the Chief down should look at the big picture.

The use of a vehicle carrying same equipment would have made it to the medical a lot faster than a fire truck would especially going up hills. A few months ago an article was written from interviews with the city the number of fires has stayed the same about one per day. So realistically by using math calculations it’s very rare for a fire to occur in the exact same fire district at the same time as a medical call. So basically having two firefighters responding in a SUV, would make faster response times to a medical and the 3 rd firefighter that was still at the station could respond to a fire call that comes in when a crew was out on a medical call, he could bring the fire truck to the fire scene and when the medical call was over they could respond to the scene. So having a 30,000 dollar SUV used for medical calls and the large sum that fire engines cost would give a longer life for that vehicle. So with about 2 percent of emergency calls being actually fires (370) per year compared to 50-70 percent medical.

Whitney commissioners requested that Boise add more Battallion chiefs to cover the additional responsibilities. 2-3 captains were promoted to Battallion chief with an average cost of 120,000 per person each year. In 2007 when there had been more annexations, Whitney area was 3 miles x 3 miles. Boise Fire chief retired and to help him get another retirement the Whitney commissioners appointed him as Fire chief. He is paid 62,000 a yr plus bennies and a vehicle. The only person that is not a Boise firefighter is a part time secretary.

As of last December, he had accummulated the 5 yrs needed for an additonal retirement. He oversees no firefighters just this secretary which the commissioners really oversee. When the Whitney station on Overland road was closed a new station had been built on S. five Mile and Hollander. Now here is the real kicker, from the time Whitney was consolodated with Boise an approximately 7,000-9,000 gallon water tender was manned out of the station on Hollander due to lack of hydrants. Because of money issues this water tender was only manned if additional manpower was availaable.

On march 11th of 2012 a fire was at a residence at the 10,400 block of West Estate drive off five mile road. The first in engine company would have been the one at Hollander and S. five mile, but they were on a medical call. This area is in the city but still doesnt have the hydrants available. The first in engine got on scene and were out of water very fast as depending on the fire engine only carry 500-700 approx gallons of water. Additional alarms had to be called, taking crews from the area of Ustick and McMIllan, engine from 16th and front, meridian units also were called.

So does it make sense to have a fire chief that has no firefighters under him or a water tender? Well you guessed it the ex-Boise fire chief stayed and tender was shut down. This information is available and retrieved under the Fredom of information act. If you get information you will also find that from 2003-2011 the two people who filled the fire marshalls office had little or no education of how to run fire prevention.

The new chief of Boise obtained the rank of captain on Boise Fire and was the lobbyist for the FireFighters of Idaho as its president. In my opinion as I know many citys do not like to promote from within, when the job was held so long by someone who worked his way up the ranks, as it becomes the good ol boys club. If anyone wants to verify my position, getting copies of the contracts will show this is how Boise Fire has operated.

And I will testify that unless you word your request telling them where to look, Boise fire will do as little as posibile to provide your requests. Another big cost is how many city cars go with the employed home at night, I will be conservative and say 14-18, I asked that question but instead of an answer of this amnt they sent the maitenance reports of each vehicle and redacted all info except showing which division it comes from.

The number of fires has not increased since taking in Whitney and North Ada but management has grown. Boise FireFighters need management that looks out for the firefighter and the public. Look where there new headquarters is, almost to the Boise and Meridian border.

I agree. Mame

The big cost is not the trucks, it’s the pay and bennie obligations. You guys are building a house of cards with the shift of moneys into pay and bennies over the years.

So CUT FIRE and add Ada EMS if/where needed. Stop building and staffing a new firehouse every time Mormons build a new church. For huge saving we’d be minutely slower in some zones. Big trucks to medical calls is also dangerous to the other drivers.