Consultants call for restructuring of LBFD

City Manager Jack Schnirman and ICMA representatives presented the report to residents and encouraged them to offer input after the meeting.

Anthony Rifilato/Herald

Hundreds of residents packed City Hall on Tuesday to hear about a report that recommends a significant overhaul of the Long Beach Fire Department.

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Nearly a year after the city launched a comprehensive review of its emergency services in the aftermath of Hurricane Sandy, a consulting firm released its findings at a public presentation on Tuesday, calling for a significant restructuring of the Long Beach Fire Department to become more efficient and save the city millions of dollars.

Hundreds of residents packed City Hall to hear about the report, and members of the Long Beach Professional Firefighters Local 287, the union representing the city’s career firefighters, took issue with many of the findings, particularly a proposal that could potentially cut its ranks by more than half.

Amid concerns among residents in the wake of Long Beach Medical Center’s closing — and the lack of a 911-receiving emergency department — the city hired the International City/County Management Association Center for Public Safety Management — a Washington, D.C.-based organization that provides technical assistance to communities in the areas of police, fire, EMS and homeland security — at a cost of $55,000 last March to assess its emergency-response needs and help identify ways to enhance services.
 Because the city entered into a professional services contract with ICMA, officials said the measure did not require approval by the City Council at a public meeting.

The review, which recommended a number of options to improve efficiency, concluded that the hospital’s closure is having the greatest impact on the Fire Department, citing “unique challenges,” such as increased turnaround times when transporting patients and the impact of traffic and congestion on EMS operations — issues that city and fire officials have pointed out for more than two years.

“That’s how we started this whole study,” City Manager Jack Schnirman said after the meeting. “The hospital is closed, and how are we going to handle this? There is an impact for not having a 911 emergency room.”

However, the report also pointed out organizational issues and inefficiencies in the LBFD that require improvement, regardless of whether the hospital reopens.