(Beaver Dam) A report on the state of the department this week on WBEVs Community Comment from Beaver Dam Fire Chief Alan Mannel. The department has 18 full-time firefighter-paramedics, 28-paid-on-call part-timers and two chiefs covering the entire city and all-or-part of five neighboring townships.
In each of the past two years, there were over 2800 calls for medical emergencies; residential, commercial and vehicle fires; revenue-generating inter-facility transports; and paramedic intercepts, which is where they use their high-level of training as an intermediary between rural jurisdictions and medical facilities.
Mannel says he is very proud of his crew. He calls his staff phenomenal at juggling, going with the flow and switching gears, which he notes are necessary skills in his line of work. Mannel says personnel will continue to provide a high-level of service, even though the high volume in the understaffed department can take its toll.
“I think the people who are served by the city of Beaver Dam Fire Department are getting the best EMS service that’s available,” Mannel says adding, “just hoping you’re not the second or third or fourth person at the same time period that needs our services because you may need to wait. I think we do a great job with the number of people that we’ve got, we’re just coming up on some dire straits and we’re going to need additional firefighter-paramedics to help us fill that void.”
Mannel is hoping to see the question of fire department staffing go before the taxpayers in the form of a referendum. A study on staffing levels is currently underway.
