Millage proposal seeks more firefighters in Rochester Hills
Staffing shortage in Rochester Hills putting fire response at risk
Officials say they've been running into situations where they don't have enough firefighters to handle multiple emergencies at once. One example happened over the weekend, when crews responded to a house fire but couldn't keep up with incoming calls for service, most of which were medical emergencies. Fire Chief Todd Gary says that happened 224 times over the past year. In those cases, the department has had to rely on mutual aid from neighboring communities.
(FOX 2) - In an emergency, every second counts. But in the city of Rochester Hills, response times are at risk because officials say they don't have enough firefighters. A millage on the upcoming primary ballot could change that by funding additional staff.
What they're saying:
The fire department is looking to add 12 new firefighters. That would allow the department to keep an additional ambulance and fire engine in service.
Why is that a big deal?
Officials say they've been running into situations where they don't have enough firefighters to handle multiple emergencies at once. One example happened over the weekend, when crews responded to a house fire but couldn't keep up with incoming calls for service, most of which were medical emergencies. Fire Chief Todd Gary says that happened 224 times over the past year. In those cases, the department has had to rely on mutual aid from neighboring communities.
"We had a house fire over the weekend and we were relying on other communities to provide service for us during that time," said Rochester Hills Fire Chief Todd Gary. "We had numerous calls at the scene of that fire, and we had four different communities responding for us. We understand it's a difficult time for tax increases, but we haven't increased our fire millage in ten years, and the city has grown. To maintain the coverage that residents expect, we need to increase our staff. It's obviously for a good cause. Public safety is important."
Dig deeper:
The proposal would increase the fire millage by about 0.5 mills.
It's been ten years since the city last asked voters to approve an increase to its fire millage.