Eugene fire staffing hasn’t grown with the city

Think for a moment about growth in Eugene and the surrounding area over the past couple of decades. The population has grown by 35,000 people. The number of residences has grown to almost 90,000, an increase of more than 20%.

But one thing has held relatively steady: the number of firefighters responding to calls for help.

The City of Eugene had a daily shift strength of 38 firefighters, staffing 12 units responsible for fire and first response in 2023, a number that has changed very little since the 1980s. Meanwhile, total calls for service have risen by over 1,000%.

Firefighters in Eugene continue to carry out their heroic mission of saving lives every day, but the stagnant size of the department, rising costs, lack of stable funding, and the changing nature of Eugene itself have created major challenges, Eugene Springfield Fire Chief Mike Caven said.

A vertical equation

As Eugene has grown, more people, more traffic and the rise in service calls has also led to slower response times over the last 20 years. In the 1990s, Eugene met the national standard of being able to have crews on scene within 4 minutes on 90% of calls. In 2003, the average time had risen to nearly 5 minutes. By 2023, the average time had reached just over 7 minutes.

Another factor in the city's growth is that Eugene has added numerous mid-to high-rise buildings, including extensive housing development in the University area, creating the need for new strategies to attack possible fires.

"The number of people has grown in the downtown core, and we haven't," Caven said. "The denser the city becomes, the more response time is a vertical equation, not just a horizontal equation."

The National Firefighting Protection Association standards recommend a minimum of 43 firefighters to respond to a high-rise fire to maximize the chances of safety and success. That means a single multi-story fire would demand the response of every firefighter on duty in Eugene and still fall short of the national recommendation.

In general, fewer people on response teams means it takes more time to aid in evacuation and get firefighting equipment in place - high-rise fires pose even more of a challenge. Fire truck ladders can only reach so far. It takes firefighters ascending stairs in some cases to get people out and manage fire hoses. And with all hands on deck, it means a lack of availability to respond to other calls for help.

Ambulance shortage

Another major challenge facing the department is that all six or seven available ambulances in Eugene are often in service simultaneously depending on the time of day, Caven said.

To maximize staffing, most firefighters are also trained paramedics. Fire trucks also respond to medical calls, initiating lifesaving care before an ambulance arrives and improving survival rates.

For example, in 90% of cardiac arrest cases where the victim was later discharged from a hospital, the closest fire company was available to respond and initiate care quickly.

In all, Eugene Springfield Fire responds to more than 130 calls a day in both cities with about three-fourths of calls being medical in nature.

Medical calls also put major stresses on the budget. Ambulance service is currently funded through medical billing, but reimbursements for Medicare and Medicaid are not paying enough to cover the actual costs of service. At some point, medical billing alone will become unsustainable, Caven said.

Those types of stresses are reshaping the way the department responds to calls after a broad evaluation of services in an effort to maximize efficiency. For example, there are increased efforts to ensure injuries are present in an automobile accident before sending medical responders. Some accidents may require only an ambulance and not a fire truck. And very small grass or bark fires might merit a response with a two-person crew in a pickup truck instead, he said.

"We're refining what we're sending our resources to," Caven said.

Changing demands

Fundamentally, a changing community requires a rededication to resources and the development of new strategies to better prepare for emergency responses. The scenes firefighters respond to are often different than they once were.

"It's a different world," Caven said. "We need to prepare."

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