Calling for the City Council Committee on Public Safety to Conduct Public Hearings to Investigate the Implementation and Consequences of the City's Brown-Out Policy of Taking Fire Department Engine and Ladder Companies Out of Service.

WHEREAS,

In June of this year the Administration announced that starting July 1, fiscal year 2011, certain fire department engine and ladder companies would be taken out of service (“Brown-outs”), on a rotating basis in an effort to save $3.8 million in overtime costs; and

WHEREAS

, Under the brown-out policy, firefighters assigned to companies that have been taken out of service are reassigned to other companies around the City that are in service; and

WHEREAS

, The brown-out policy requires that engine and ladder companies which surround those under brown-out, respond to emergencies in the neighborhood where the browned-out station is located; and

WHEREAS

, The brown-out policy can result in increased response times by firefighters in the event of emergencies; and

WHEREAS

, Increased response times could place the public at greater risk of personal injury or property damage as a result of neighborhood fire stations being out of service during brown-outs; and

WHEREAS

, Recent fires in the City, and the loss-of-life, personal injury and property damage that have resulted, have caused many residents to question whether the brown-out policy is a responsible way for the City to cut costs; now therefore, be it,

RESOLVED, THAT THE PHILADELPHIA CITY COUNCIL,

Calls for the Council Committee on Public Safety to Conduct Public Hearings to Investigate the Implementation and Consequences of the City's Policy of Taking Fire Department Engine and Ladder Companies Out of Service.

End