News

Actions

KCFD staffing issues pose safety concerns

Overtime pay more than tripled in 6 years
Posted at 3:03 PM, Apr 24, 2017
and last updated 2017-04-24 23:47:08-04

The safety of Kansas City residents may be at greater risk due to staffing concerns with the Kansas City Fire Department.

The 41 Action News Investigators first started asking for department records in February. Those records show a steadily increasing department budget fueled in part by a huge growth in overtime over several years.

The numbers have also raised concerns about staffing levels and firefighter and paramedic fatigue.

Another element of the problem is a 13 percent growth in fire department runs compared to five years ago.

"There is no doubt that you're putting more and more stress on the workforce and our workforce does work extremely hard," said KCFD Chief Paul Berardi.

To cover the city around the clock, overtime within the fire department has skyrocketed. It was around $5 million in 2012 and has more than tripled to an estimated $16 million in the current budget.

The department's overall budget is up from about $151 million last year to more than $166 million in the upcoming budget.

"I make no excuses for the overtime," Berardi said. "We realize the overtime is a big figure," he said.

"We've been working on it for years," said City Manager Troy Schulte. "I think we've drilled down to the problems," he said.

Records the 41 Action News Investigators obtained show in February of this year, there were only 35 vacancies in the more than 1,300 member department which include administrative positions.

But Berardi and Schulte say that number doesn't reveal the department's aging workforce with typically 40 to 50 people out or on modified duty due to injury.

Couple that issue with sickness, vacations, off time and minimum staffing requirements agreed to by union contract and it leaves ample opportunity for overtime.

The 41 Action News Investigators found five employee names in the top ten overtime earners list at least twice in the last three years.

One paramedic was the top overtime earner each of the last three years. In 2016, he made nearly $156,000 in overtime alone. His total gross pay of more than $232,000 is more money than Berardi and Schulte each earned last year.

"It's certainly no fault of his, it's only my fault that these vacancies exist," Berardi said.

"The issue is how we make those opportunities as few as possible so that we can avoid that unnecessary cost," Schulte said.

"My take on it is they need more paramedics in the system, right now, we're short paramedics," said Firefighters Union Local 42 President Bill Galvin.

Galvin believes KCFD is about 80 paramedics short.

The department is adding 35 paramedics in the coming weeks.

But while rules require firefighter/paramedics to take at least 12 hours off after the standard 24-hour shift, Galvin says some of his members have worked as much as four straight 24 hour shifts with no time off.

"We're very concerned about fatigue and danger for the paramedic and the person driving the ambulance also," Galvin said.

When the 41 Action News Investigators asked Chief Berardi if he or others in the department can deny overtime requests, he said, "Sure, certainly me as the fire chief, certainly, the battalion chiefs who deal with the individuals every day, they certainly have the authority to pull somebody from the line."

But it keeps happening. In 2013, a city audit revealed one KCFD paramedic that year averaged 58 hours of overtime per week.

That year, Chief Berardi issued an order to stop consecutive ambulance shifts.

He also said in 2013 overtime is an issue he takes very seriously. In the years-long battle to address the problem, the city is now hiring more paramedics.

Firefighters are also getting cross training to be paramedics which takes months.

Meanwhile, the city is working on a new staffing plan.

But Galvin says another problem is KCFD's hiring wage is not enough to be competitive with neighboring communities.

"If I was first coming up, I'd go somewhere that paid better, probably less runs," he said.

"We know that we're headed in the right direction," Berardi said.

"I don't believe they're going in the right direction until we get those paramedics into the system," Galvin said.

Galvin is also concerned about firefighter and ambulance response times in south Kansas City and especially the Northland where he believes there aren't enough stations.

The city council plans to take an in-depth look at KCFD overtime in May.