By Joanne Bailey-Boorsma
WKTV Managing Editor
joanne@wktv.org

NOTE: This is a two-part series on a ride-along with the Wyoming Fire Department. The first part is a glimpse of the daily activities of one of the department’s teams based out of the Central Station, located at 1250 36th St. SW.

“Did you see Steve almost get hit three times?” said Wyoming firefighter Mike Jones as he hops back into the department’s ladder truck.

It was not hard to miss the first incident. Equipment operator Steve Boetsma stood with a blower in hand clearing the debris from the intersection of Clyde Park and 36th Street while the driver of a large black SUV decided to go through the accident versus following the traffic cones to go around it.

Jones said the driver made a crude gesture with Lt. Jesse May noting, “Well, we are station 1.”

“People don’t like us,” Jones said. “They don’t like the police more, but they especially don’t like us when we are blocking an intersection.”

It is 11:15 a.m. on March 22 and this is the fourth run, the second to the same location, the Wyoming Fire Department’s red team has made since the start of its shift at 7 a.m. Within this 24-hour shift, which ended at 7 a.m. March 23, the Wyoming Fire Department would answer 21 calls in total.

The Start of the Day

The start of the shift was busy with the five-member team of May, Boetsma, Jones, Sam Jones (Jones’ brother), and Cullen Dodge responding first to a medical call, followed by the team’s first visit to the intersection of 36th Street and Clyde Park Avenue, which also was a car accident.

Rolling in after 9 a.m., the team is able to focus on its daily routine of pre-checks, maintenance and starting breakfast.

 

Boetsma takes the ladder truck outside for a routine check, something that is done at the beginning of each shift.

“It is actually the only working ladder truck in the department’s fleet,” May said during a tour of the station. Smaller engines that pump water are both located at the Burton Street and Gezon stations, but are not at the capacity of the ladder truck. If a May 2 millage proposal passes, the department would be able to purchase a second aerial truck that would include a bucket. The second aerial truck would not only provide more water pump capabilities, but the department would be able to switch between vehicles, reducing wear and tear.

Mutual Aid

An alarm signals. It’s for Grandville, near the Wyoming/Grandville border.

Even though close, “We can’t answer that call,” May said. You can tell it bothers him not to respond. “If we go, then there is no one to cover the city.”

There are mutual aid agreements between many of the West Michigan communities. In 2020, the City of Wyoming had to rely on assistance from neighboring communities 140 times because the department’s staff was on other calls. Most recently, during the March 18 snowstorm, the Grandville Fire Department responded to a call in Wyoming on Chicago Drive. While on the call, Grandville’s fire engine and a tow truck were struck by oncoming vehicles.

In a Kentwood Fire Department’s 2022 Fire Report, under the mutual aid section, Kentwood responded to mutual aid calls in Wyoming 50 times, while Wyoming responded to mutual aid calls in Kentwood twice. Of the 50 calls Kentwood responded to in Wyoming, 23 were for EMS.

The Increase in Medical Calls

The alarm goes off. It’s 10 a.m.

“They made breakfast,” Jones said as he climbed into the truck.”There is enough for everyone. We try to eat together as a family at every meal; breakfast, lunch and dinner. It doesn’t always work out that way.”

For Wyoming, medical emergencies, such as heart attacks and overdoses have doubled in the past five years from 633 to 1,310. Nursing homes can sometimes have multiple calls in a day, May said. This call is to a doctor’s office.

The average response time for the Wyoming fire department is 5.16 minutes, which falls behind the national recommended average of four minutes. The team makes it to the scene within five minutes. To the team’s surprise, an ambulance service has gotten to the scene before them. May and Jones hop out of the truck to assist. For the three-man team to go out, assist and come back to the station, it takes about 30 minutes.

“Many times we are first on the scene,” May said. “Because we don’t transport, we can take vitals and evaluate, but we have to wait for an ambulance, which depending on the calls that day, could be 30 to 40 minutes.”

No. 1 Priority: Staff

As soon as they get back, Jones is corralling everyone for breakfast. It is about 10:30 a.m. when the group sits down at a large wooden table with the Wyoming Fire Department logo embedded.

 

As they eat, the group openly discusses the need for more staff. Boetsma noted that for a structural fire, the minimum staffing requirement is 14. A fully staffed day, with no one on vacation or sick, the Wyoming Fire Department has 11, but usually staffing levels are at nine. May noted that with nine on a shift, it allows for the department to staff three of its four stations. The only unmanned station is Division Avenue, which is the busiest area for calls, May said.

If there is eight or less on staff, then only Gezon and the Central Station are staffed. The city is divided into two with Central Station taking everything north of 44th Street and Gezon everything south of 44th Street.

Helping to ‘Soften the Load’

Having more staff is on top of the department’s wish list. A May 2 millage proposal would maintain that current staffing of 36 and add three more firefighting positions.

 

Even with the additional staffing, the Wyoming Fire Department would still be at the bottom of area departments with 39 firefighters covering a population of around 77,000, which is one firefighter serving 2,000 residents. In the City of Grand Rapids, there are 195 firefighters covering a population of about 201,000, which is about one firefighter serving around 1,000 residents.

The additional staff would “soften” the load, May said, adding it would allow firefighters time for other tasks such as testing to make sure its self-contained breathing apparatus (SCBA) are in working order. The department does this in-house to help keep costs down and for faster turnaround time, he said. It also would allow staff to work on certifications and other maintenance needs that are currently low priority.

Clean up on 36th and Clyde Park

Breakfast is over and the team splits up to take care of various tasks.

“I think people believe we sleep all day or just sit around,” Jones said. “We don’t. We have equipment checks and stuff around the station that needs to be done.”

It’s 11 a.m. and the alarm goes off for the second accident at 36th and Clyde Park. This time, all five members head out, three on the ladder truck and two in a medical response vehicle.

No one is injured. The team puts out an engine fire and starts the process of clean up which includes a kitty litter-like compound on the oil and gas, sweeping up the debris, and assisting the tow truck drivers in removing the vehicles. To protect the scene, the firefighters, police officers, and others, the large ladder truck is used to block a portion of the intersection. The department has a vehicle to block traffic, but not enough staff to drive it to the scene.

“Since there were no injuries, if there had been a medical call, I could have sent two of the guys there,” May said. “I probably would not have though because of the need for traffic control.”

It only took 40 minutes for the clean-up and even with the engine blocking the intersection, there were several close calls, the three with Boetsma and a couple others, with vehicles trying to get around including one person using the wrong lane of traffic to try and make a left, which May had to stand in front of the car to get the driver to turnaround.

It’s back in the truck, but before heading back to the station, the team has one more stop they would like to make.

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Next: Part 2, A visit to the Division Avenue station.