VANCOUVER, Wash. -- City budget cuts are forcing Vancouver's fire chief to make tough choices.
Chief Don Bivens must cut nearly $1 million from his 2010 budget and he's trying to avoid layoffs.
Instead, four fire fighters will retire early and Bivens may scrap the city's only medical response unit, called Rescue 3. The plan is raising questions about safety because Rescue 3 was put in place years ago to shorten response times on emergency calls.
Captain Bill Garlington, speaking for the chief, says Rescue 3 is based in one of the city's busiest fire stations. Station 3 handles 4,500 emergency calls every year and most of them are for medical emergencies.
He says "the rescue unit was put here to shorten the response times for heart attacks & fires." Garlington adds, this was the "least worst option" considered by Chief Bivens.
Still, the idea isn't sitting well with the city's fire fighter union.
Union President Mark Johnston says "it's a terrible game of musical chairs."
He points to the number of calls at Station 3. If the rescue unit is cut, engines from other parts of Vancouver will have to drive over to help handle the call load.
"If you take this unit out of service somebody's going to suffer, somebody having a medical emergency is not going to get the care they need and the care the city council should be providing for all citizens of Vancouver," Johnston adds.
The union is urging all Vancouver citizens to weigh in on the issue.
At a downtown Vancouver park parents are talking about the proposed cuts.
"I know people need to cut somewhere in the budget and I'd like to know what other options there are," Aram Arslanian said.
Corrina Keebaugh is worried about longer response times should someone call 9-1-1. "I believe times for engines to get to specific areas will be longer, and having 2 young children response times are important to me."
Vancouver's Chief Financial Officer, Lloyd Tyler, says the city council must close a nearly six million dollar budget gap by mid-March.
The shortfall comes as a result of a decline in sales tax revenue and a cap on property taxes recently approved by voters. He says the council will take public comment on all proposals until March 15th, when it's scheduled to take action.
