By Joanne Bailey-Boorsma
joanne@wktv.org
When a new housing project is proposed in a community, the first thing most people think of is how will it impact the local schools. In truth, a new development may impact a community’s utilities — especially its fire department — even more.
“Whenever there is a new development, it means more people using your streets which in turn means more potential crashes and other safety issues,” said Wyoming Fire Chief Brian Bennett.
In the past 20 years, the City of Wyoming has seen several new developments such as HOM Flats along Prairie Parkway and The Reserve at 54th Street and Wilson Avenue, which has resulted in the city’s population increasing from 69,000 to 76,000. Within the first four months of 2022, the fire department has responded to 200 more calls than in the same period of 2021. Bennett noted that from 2020 to 2021, there was an increase of 600 calls and he expects 2022 to outpace 2021 in calls.
In that same 20-year time span, the department, due to state funding cuts and the 2008 recession, has decreased by eight full-time firefighters to 27 and, due to increase training requirements, paid-on call firefighters have gone down from 40 to 6.
Through two proposals on the May 3 ballot, the city hopes to double its current fire staffing from 27 to 54. The first proposal would be an income tax of up to 1 percent for city residents and up to .5 percent for non-residents such as commuters who work in the city. In the second proposal, the city is seeking to reduce the city property tax by about 58 percent, from around 12 mills to 5. Both proposals must pass to take effect.
“Our goal is to be more efficient at what we do,” Bennett said, adding the additional staffing would put the department in about the middle of the pack for staffing and calls per firefighter.
Currently the department has the highest number of calls per firefighters in the Greater Grand Rapids area with 265 calls per firefighter. The City of Grand Rapids averages about 124 calls per firefighter while the City of Kentwood averages about 110 calls per firefighters.
The calls are not just for fires, but for a variety of safety issues such as tree damage, wires down, vehicle crashes, gas leaks, and medical calls.
“A lot of people think that all a fire department does is respond to fires,” Bennett said, adding that fire calls are only a small portion of what the department handles. “But over the years, the fire department’s responsibility has expanded to include just about anything that involves safety.
“Basically, we are here to assure that the people who are in our community can safely operate while they are here.”
For example, if there is a crash on the expressway, the department not only responses to the accident but also must mitigate any gas spills to assure the gas does not enter the waterways so as not to contaminate the city’s water supply.
Because of the increase in calls, the result has been the City of Wyoming relying on neighboring communities. In fact, in 2020, the city had to rely on other departments 140 times because its fire department was on another call.
“With the increased number of calls, it makes our availability less and less,” Bennett said. “The result is we have to rely on our neighbors more to cover what we can’t get to.”
Bennett noted that the reliance on other departments does mean longer response times for those waiting for assistance.
Assuring the safety of its residents and visitors also means the department is responsible to review all the site plans for any construction project within the city to assure all the safety features are included in the overall design as well as handle safety inspections for business, restaurants and hotels.
“These safety inspections are suppose to be done every year but because of staffing, we are not able to get to all of them every year,” Bennett said.
With the expected news of what will be constructed on Site 36, commercial and residential development in the City of Wyoming does not look to be slowing down. In fact, there is a movement to revitalize Division Avenue and with new businesses and housing means more demands on the fire department. Bennett noted the city is divided into four fire districts with the busiest currently being Division, which has an unman station.
Two out of the city’s fire stations are manned 24/7. If the two May 3 proposals are approved, all four stations would be manned.
To learn more about the two May 3 proposals, visit wyomingmi.gov/FundingFortheFuture.
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