UNR-area lacks full engine almost a third of the time

11: is the number of days in September that Engine 4 was shut down.

7: is the number of days in October that Engine 4 was shut down.

2: is the number of firefighters on a rescue team, which replaces the four-person engine when it is shut down.

Click here to enlarge. On any given day, firefighters could be pulled from Engine 4 to fill in staffing holes in other parts of the city, leaving the fire district that encompasses the University of Nevada, Reno without a staffed fire engine. Photo by Brian Bolton/Nevada Sagebrush.

For almost a third of the past two months, the City of Reno left the University of Nevada, Reno campus without a fully staffed fire engine.

Instead, a two-person rescue team, dubbed a “suicide” team by firefighters who serve on it because of recent burns to colleagues on one, was assigned to cover the area.

The move is part of a system to reduce overtime costs for the City of Reno Fire Department and is made on days it finds itself short-staffed, increasing the response time to any possible fire at the university.

The replacement of the engine that normally serves UNR, Engine 4, with a rescue team is the fourth option to reorganize firefighters on short-staffed days. It comes after the shutting down of two-ladder trucks and the conversion of a fire engine in Somersett to a two-person patrol rig.

“Is it preferred?” Joe DuRousseau, the operations chief for the Reno Fire Department, said. “No. Obviously we’d like to keep every engine staffed all the time.”

On days when Engine 4 is shut down, the two remaining fire fighters are put on a “rescue rig” based out of the same station to respond to medical calls which make up the vast majority of the department’s responses, DuRousseau said.

The use of rescue teams is limited during a fire. The rescue rig does not carry any water nor does it have a pump, and federal regulations prohibit firefighters from entering a fire without a team of at least four. The only exception to this rule is when a person is known to be in a burning building, DuRousseau said.

The department’s previous leadership created the system, he said, and it is something he is trying to change.

“We’re looking at other ways to save money,” he said. “I don’t like having Engine 4 down to two people.”

Those plans are still in early stages, though, leaving the current system in place for the foreseeable future, DuRousseau said.

DuRousseau said district four, the part of Reno that is serviced by Engine 4 and includes UNR and Saint Mary’s Regional Medical Center, poses special challenges for the fire department. The district is an especially small one with a high population and requires special care, he said.

The complexity of the university’s layout and the limited number of ways in and out could also create confusion for an engine crew not used to working in the area, said Brad Jensen, the president of the Reno Fire Fighters Association, a union representing local firefighters.

“From someone who’s worked on Engine 4, there are a lot of unique challenges on that district,” Jensen, who served on the engine for four years, said.

UNR spokeswoman Jane Tors and President Milton Glick both said they were unaware of Engine 4 being shut down at all, let alone as often as it had been in the last few months.

Jay Balagna can be reached at jbalagna@nevadasagebrush.com.

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