Sigma40 - Fire trucks respond for multiple reasons. The most important reason is to provide traffic blockage, which protects the ambulance, fire crews, and accident victims from distracted vehicles passing by. Have you seen what a distracted driver can do when they crash through an unprotected accident scene. I have. People get hurt and killed because of it. That "useless" fire truck is close to impossible to move if struck by a distracted car. They have saved many firefighters, paramedics, and civilians.

Also, extra firefighters are there to assist with care of all victims involved. Did you know every person involved in an accident has to have a full report done on them....regardless if they're injured or not. Some people say they're not injured but end up going to the hospital later. If the firefighter/paramedics did not evaluate these people and report it, the potential for a lawsuit forms. Just think how much that would cost the city. So to put things in prospective, the bicycle accident you witnessed may have had many more people involved than just the bike rider. The car that struck the bike may have had four occupants, which require four additional evaluations and reports. Considering there are only two firefighter/paramedics on an ambulance, five subjects and reports can be easily overwhelming. Especially when your trying to get things done quickly in order to restore clear lanes for traffic.

I'm sure it seems like over kill to someone not familiar with fire department operations, but I assure you it is not. Janesville actually sends less vehicles than the fire department around us. Did you know many area volunteer department's send a Command vehicle, Tanker, Engine, and Ambulance to ALL accident calls. The Tanker provides traffic blockage while the Engine and Ambulance tend to victims.

I realize everyone has their opinion on this topic, but I really wish people would do some research before they post comments. An informed critic has much more credibility.

They do dispatch a fire truck to EVERY accident no matter how minor it is. If an accident is called in a fire truck comes. These calls all add up.. now does it register as overtime when they get excessive amounts of calls? I drove by the corner of Pearl and Court, a girl was sitting on the curb, look like she rn her bicycle into a car, bent the rim, she was shaken, looked minor injury. The fire truck was there along with an ambulance and 2 cop cars. Really? A fire truck for someone that crashed their bicycle?
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We obviously have a poorly managed fire department. Maintenance on the trucks are lacking. Its pretty bad when the fuel tank is so rusty that it falls out of the fire truck going down the road. I think if it was managed a little better in all aspects we would be ok with the number of fire fighters we have.

Sigma40, Full time Firefighters are on duty for a set period of time( here it is a 24 hour shift ) It does not matter if the whole fire department shows up to a "fender bender" or if the have no runs at all in 24 hours, they all get paid the same.
>56789, every one gets a vacation, the city has set rules as to how many people in a department ( police fire, public works, city services) can be off at one time. To meet minimum staffing it may be that overtime is needed, because of sick calls, out of city training, or other issues. You can't call someone back from the middle of his/her vacation because someone called in sick. Also some of the overtime is due to being on a run at shift change. (you don't drop everything because it's shift change)

I don't blindly support the fire department here. I think they need to stop abusing the system they have in place. They get together and pick vacations time knowing that it benifits them for more overtime. I do however, disagree with cutting public safety programs which is what Severson and Kealey want.

Sigma40, you obviously have no clue in how fire departments operate. They do not "send the whole department" to a "fender bender". I know that you are trying to make a joke here, but before you and all these other people think they know how operations work, maybe you all should visit the station and talk to the Chief or other personnel. Then, and only then, can you try and make an educated decision.

Can we see a list of calls? What is the most thing the fire dept gets called to? They wonder why they are racking up so much overtime? probably because they want it. Its pathetic when you see a minor fender bender and the whole fire dept shows up.

Shopierehuh and 56789 seem to be blindly backing the fire department/union without even considering a change in staffing / personnel / hours.

Let's objectively look at alternative staffing possibilities before blindly cowtowing to the staus quo.

Just hire more. What Council members Kealey and Severson do not get is that you do not skate by on safety. The city is saving less than 300k by not hiring additional firefighters. IF there are approx. 10k tax paying households that is 30 dollars a household. Seriously? Is this community that cheap? Our insurance would go up way more than that by cutting services and lowering our rating. My taxes actually went down this year. I would have no issues if they stayed the same to increase services or even were slightly higher to maintain services.

Severson/Kealey are ruining this community by taking their fiscal policies out on public employees. Eventually they will cut services so far that companies and people will not want to relocate here.

If they need more firefighters, for ****'s sake hire them. Do you people think that the safety of your families and secondly your property is a subject that needs this much nit picking and debate?

Are you Janesville residents prepared to downgrade the quality of life that would happen if some of these suggestions were to be followed? Are you that penny pinching to think that you should save a few dollars by reducing essential services? I would bet several of you could save the same amount or more by just staying out of the taverns a few times. Or skip a vacation, shorten the trip, or don't go to that restaurant or the ball game quite so much. This is laughable, I'm glad I don't live up there.

How about part time help or per diems without all the benefits. If they prove to be good employees, they would have opportunity to move to full time as retirements come up. Allowed by union?

Staffing and scheduling firefighters is best NOT done by the public. Those closest to the industry (the firefighters themselves) are best for making these decisions. This is one of Greg Peck's 'opinion matters' that makes no sense - asking the general public how to run a fire department.

There is no "Advantage" to having a volunteer Fire department here in Janesville.
First off when you have volunteers the insurance companies ( on your home and business ) DOWNGRADE the ratings - you pay more for your insurance.
When a city closes or reduces a station to part time staffing -volunteers, they DOWNGRADE the fire rating for the city. Ask any city out east that has done this. City fathers don't care, they aren't paying the rate increase, the home and business owners are.

No offense to volunteer Firefighters ( have been both in my career) they are a dedicated lot, but they are not always available - some work full time jobs, because they are volunteers, they are free to live their lives without a commitment to be available every time they are needed . So when you set off the pagers, you never know how many people you are going to get. (ask the members of the surrounding Volunteer Fire Departments, or ask the 9-1-1 Center how many time they have to page out calls sometimes before they get enough manpower to respond)

Then there will be the full time vs. volunteer mind set. The full timers will get 100% of the calls, and 98% of the time they will be able to handle them. Is that 2% enough to keep volunteers interested? Many departments have wrestled with that for years.

Response times will be slower,as the volunteers will have to come from home or work. Then there is the matter of the volunteers responding on the streets of town to the stations....

I read a list of "Firefighters Close Calls" We die every day on the job of heart related causes, and it's not just older members, Firefighters in their 30's die too. Firefighting is the most hazardous profession in the world.
Someone suggested changing to the same shift schedule as the police. Good idea - but you have to hire more firefighters to staff 3 shifts at the same levels you have now, because of time off and illnesses.
Staff Public works 24-7? maybe if GM were still here. Even Chicago does not fully staff Public Works full time.
Emergency services is one place NOT to play with manpower. Look at what has happened in this town in the last several days. Could it have all turned out Ok with less manpower and equipment?

Hire Firefighters and paramedics, not ice arenas!

No. The ones they have now are poorly managed.

You are correct OnWisconsin. I agree with justBnice that this should be looked into. A combined fire department can be made-up of career firefighters, volunteers, auxillary and junior firefighters. Some could only respond to vehicle accidents, hazardous materials, confined space, water rescue, ice rescue, and other rescue incidents as well as commonly providing first emergency medical responses.

JustBnice, no disrespect, but apparently you do not quite understand how fire departments work. There is no way that Janesville could have a volunteer department. Do some research on this and you may be surprised.

I don't know much about this subject but what I do know is our taxes are very high in comparison to rest of country for what wisconsin offers. More analysis is needed because it seems like wasteful spending is occurring.

It might be time to look into the cost advantages of having a volunteer fire department.

A Big Thankyou to the PD and Fire Departments for their services.You are not paid enough for all you do.

It's time for the fire department to go on the same schedule as the police department.
They are both 24/7 responders.

And while we are at it...the public works department should also be put on a similar schedule.
There is no reason to pay overtime for a PW employee to come in to fix a stoplight or for all of the PW employees to be on OT for snow plowing.

They are all a 24/7 public service and should be on the same schedule as the PD...which is a proven reliable schedule.

What is the average age of a Janesville firefighter? Chicago has recently lost 2 firefighters (aged 54 and 61) to heart attacks after fires. It might be better to have 3 new firefighters up to speed on the Janesville Fire Department methods and procedures to cope with upcoming retirements and have extra people to cover medical leaves, rather than pay current firefighters more overtime.