Q&A
Discussion on Fire Marshal staffing levels and budget concerns
0:27:38
·
3 min
Council Member Ariola and Chief Fire Marshal Flynn discuss the current staffing levels of Fire Marshals, comparing them to past numbers and addressing budget concerns. Chief Flynn reports that they currently have 112 Fire Marshals, which is lower than in previous years.
- The recent promotion of 29 new Fire Marshals and 3 supervisors is mentioned.
- Council Member Ariola expresses concern about the current staffing levels compared to past years.
- The discussion touches on the need for potentially increasing the headcount of Fire Marshals.
Joann Ariola
0:27:38
So part of what we do here is committee is talk about your budget and talk about your staffing.
0:27:45
Because when it comes time and we will be entering the time for budget again before we blink an eye, that we make sure that you have what you need, order to take care of your different departments that you oversee.
0:27:59
So how many fire marshals are there currently in the bureau?
Daniel Flynn
0:28:07
Well, we just put a class in.
0:28:08
We we promote a class on Friday day, which we thank the the council and the mayor's office for for supporting that.
0:28:16
We promoted 29 fire marshals and 3 supervisors that brought our level to 112 fire marshals 21 supervisors and 5 fire marshal commanders.
0:28:28
That's the level 2 supervisor, which is in essence a 1 star chief.
0:28:32
Great.
0:28:32
They run they run our bases.
0:28:34
We have 2 main bases, 1 in Brooklyn and Sunset Park, the Brooklyn base covers all of Staten Island, all of Brooklyn, and Manhattan up to 110th Street.
0:28:44
The Queen's base is located in Fort Walton.
0:28:46
That base covers the rest of the city of Queens, Bronx, north of 110.
0:28:52
So those are our 2 main bases, and each one of those will have a chief.
0:28:55
And then we have our special operations command in Brooklyn on Hooper Street, and we have a chief there as well.
0:29:01
So our number of fire marshals is at 112.
0:29:06
We do approximately 57100 fire investigations a year.
0:29:09
So the workload is quite high per marshal.
0:29:14
We've get it we get the work done.
0:29:16
We we've never missed opportunity to investigate a fire.
0:29:20
So that hasn't precluded us from getting the work done.
0:29:24
But right now, we're at 112 and I believe our budgeted headcount is 110.
0:29:28
They allowed us to go over by 2 due to some grant funding for 2 marshals that are assigned to the joint terrorism task force.
Joann Ariola
0:29:38
Right.
0:29:38
But those numbers are seriously lower than say 10 or 15 years ago where you had well over 3 or 400?
Daniel Flynn
0:29:45
Yes.
Joann Ariola
0:29:45
See, the other thing I know about the department as being chair for 2 and a half years is that the fire department gets the job done even if they have only three people in their department.
0:29:57
Right?
0:29:58
But that doesn't mean that you don't deserve to have your your budgeted head count.
0:30:03
And that's what we wanna fight for you to have is your budgeted head count.
0:30:07
So if you have qualified fire marshals, we have to make sure each and every one of them are working, each and every one of them out there, and we have to make sure that others are coming on as fire marshals, inspectors, and anything that has to do with search, rescue, and determining the the reasons for fires.
0:30:25
So let's see.
0:30:29
We have We've been joined by council member Riley.
0:30:34
Thank you.
0:30:34
So because of what I just said, would you say that if that if in a perfect world you'd want a larger headcount?
0:30:47
Of fire marshals?
Daniel Flynn
0:30:47
Yeah.
0:30:48
I think every bureau within the fire department probably would would like more staff, but we we have adequate staff to get the job done at this time.
0:30:56
Yes.
0:30:56
But that those 29 marshals, they have to go to class.
0:30:59
So it's not like they hit the the streets right away.
0:31:02
It's a 17 week training class.
0:31:04
So we won't see them actually in have the an effective role until probably after the holidays.
