Cape to consider changes to rescue department

CAPE ELIZABETH — Once again, talk of change is in the air for Cape Elizabeth Fire and Rescue.

This time, that talk could transform the town’s volunteer rescue service – where EMTs and ambulance drivers are paid on a per-call basis – into a so-called “combination service,” with full-time staff stationed on duty during the day.

“I think we may end up going in the direction all of the towns around us have gone, with per diem staff,” Town Manager Michael McGovern said last week. “I’m thinking that might be a part of next year’s budget.”

This marks the third time in as many years that concerns have been raised about the cost, or service, of Cape’s fire and rescue departments.

Last year, there was talk during budget season on folding local fire and rescue efforts and farming the work out to South Portland. That effort was fairly well squashed, McGovern said, when he was able to show how little Cape Elizabeth pays for such services, compared to surrounding towns.

“If you look at the numbers,” McGovern said in a July interview, “Cape Elizabeth spends $61.35 per capita on fire protection, while South Portland spends $215.61. Why would we want to merge our services to that? What purpose would it serve?”

But now, the debate has turned, once again, from cost, to service. In 2009, McGovern was asked to access how long it takes local rescue units to get on scene, due to concern that call times were creeping in the wrong direction.

“State records showed that Cape Elizabeth has one of the fastest response times in Maine to rescue calls,” McGovern said last week. However, he acknowledged those files record the first appearance of an EMT (Emergency Medical Technician) on the incident scene. Most often, said McGovern, the first EMT to arrive is in actuality a cross-trained municipal police officer. Although cops come equipped with oxygen, defibrillators and first aid “jump kits” in their cruisers, they are unable to transport patients to the hospital.

So, last week, McGovern was asked to run the numbers once again.

“It seems that we are having a delayed response in getting volunteer members to respond,” wrote Councilor Caitlin Jordan, in an email to McGovern. 

“Perhaps we are doing the best we can,” she wrote. “Knowing you reviewed this two years ago, I would be interested to know if we have gotten worse, improved, or stayed the same.”

On Friday, McGovern said he had not yet had a chance to get those numbers, but that he hoped to have them on hand for a Sept. 6 council workshop, at which rescue services will be debated. The workshop was scheduled for after The Current’s deadline.

Jordan’s letter does not say if a particular event prompted her concern. However, in his written response, McGovern notes that, “Of the 2,270 calls in the last five years, in no instance has any delay impacted the actual outcome to the patient.”

In the most recent incident to gain public notice – in which David Aschauer, 58, of Portland, died Aug. 22 during the swim portion of a triathlon to benefit the Cape Elizabeth Land Trust – McGovern said a rescue unit was on scene “within seconds.”

“There were right there when he came out of the water,” he said.

Still, McGovern does acknowledge that, police officers aside, there is “no question that response times are growing for the rescue vehicle to be on site.” Exactly how long that average response time is, and how much it has grown by, are answers McGovern promised to have in time for the Sept. 6 workshop.

The problem, said McGovern, is that while Cape Rescue can boast an official roll call of 46 members, with 30 certified to at least an EMT-basic level, the unit answers, on average, 1.2 calls per day – 422 for the calendar year that ended June 30.

“We generally do not have a problem in the evening,” said McGovern. The issue is during the day, when most of the rescue volunteers are at work outside of town, or attending to other matters of their personal lives.

One additional issue in Cape, McGovern said, is familiar to volunteer fire and rescue units across the state. Young people, it seems, are simply not joining up as fast as older members are retiring.

“We now see a need to call South Portland more often when we do not have enough volunteers respond from Cape Elizabeth,” said McGovern. “We also have to put out a second call for volunteers to respond more often than we have in the past.”