Fire dept. did over 6,000 ambulance runs in 2017

The Department of Fire and Emergency Medical Services responded to 6,180 emergency medical service requests throughout 2017. The department also responded to 214 fire incidents and 25 search and rescue missions.

These numbers came up during the department’s Senate budget hearing last Wednesday, covering talks on the department’s budget request for fiscal year 2019.

In a presentation to the Senate, DFEMS Commissioner Clyde Norita said the department wishes to procure a new tanker or a water tender to assist them in combating fires.

In an interview after the budget hearing, Norita said his department is looking to procure a tanker—a specialized vehicle designed to transport a large amount of water to a fire scene. He noted that he is looking at a tanker with a 1,000-gallon capacity.

In their fiscal year 2018 budget, DFEMS was able to include funding to procure a pumper vehicle, a specialized vehicle fitted with high pressure hoses to combat fires.

“The perfect scenario is one pumper truck for every station,” said Norita, adding that there are six stations on Saipan.

Only the Garapan station houses the sole fire truck used on Saipan. Tinian has two fire trucks while Rota has one.

“Next year we are going to request for an aerial,” he said, adding that the aerial is a specialized firefighting vehicle that is fixed with a ladder and a pump for firefighting in high-rise buildings.

The department asked for a fiscal year 2019 budget of $6.2 million, while Gov. Ralph DLG Torres proposed a budget of $5.3 million.

“It’s a reasonable request. Primarily, it’s the staffing that we would want to make sure that we entertain…simply because of the workload and the demand of services [they provide],” said Senate Fiscal Affairs Committee chair Sen. Jude U. Hofschneider (R-Tinian).

“A lot of [their personnel requests] got to do with increased operations, and that translates to the additional need for manpower,” he said. “We are looking at their proposal closely and we will take this into account once the House transmits [a budget for review].”

On the procurement of the tanker, Hofschneider said his committee continues to urge the department to look into alternate sources of funding. He noted that last year, the department was able to procure one additional pumper through federal grants.

“…[DFEMS] also revealed that there may be another opportunity for them to get a particular inventory…that they need,” he said.