(FOX40.COM) — Effective starting this week, the Folsom Fire Department placed one fire engine at Station 38 out of service and reassigned personnel to save money on overtime pay.
The restructuring of the fire department comes after the Folsom City Council approved budget reductions this fall to address the city’s $3,000,000 General Fund shortfall.
The fire department was not the only city branch hit with cuts: Folsom eliminated 20 full-time positions, including those in the police department, library, and city attorney’s office. It’s a move Folsom City Manager Bryan Whitemyer says will save $1,000,000 annually.
“All six fire stations will have personnel. The difference now is that at Fire Station 38, we will not have a fire engine there,” Whitemyer said. “We will have a medic unit or an ambulance.”
Four engine companies, one ladder truck, and three ambulances will remain in service. Fire crews have been reassigned based on community risk levels and call volumes, but the change could impact public safety.
“It’s important to know that this is a service reduction,” said Whitemyer. “We’re not saying that this is just doing more with less. We’re actually doing less with less.”
Interim Fire Chief Jason Solak says it wasn’t an easy decision.
“Certainly… we have some concerns,” Solak said. “We’re going to continue to evaluate the data and work with the labor group and ensure that we are doing everything that we can to minimize those impacts.”
For now, Solak says it’s too early to know whether response times have been affected. He added that more data is needed to determine the full impact the fire department’s restructuring will have.
“Having one less engine in the company or in the department is… going to have an impact, and we’re going to evaluate those on a regular basis and make adjustments as needed.”
Although only time will tell whether those cuts were the right decision for public safety, Whitemyer says the reductions to Folsom Fire and other city departments have allowed the city to close the gap in its budget shortfall.
Noah Anderson
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