Mayor Pro Tem called fire department for help, nobody came

At the Nov. 1 city council meeting, Belleville Mayor Pro Tem Jesse Marcotte told his story of how he called his city fire department for a gas leak and nobody came.
He said after waiting 21 minutes, he called dispatch back and asked them to send Van Buren Township Fire Department instead.
After the meeting, Marcotte’s wife Melly said she was holding their nine-month-old child in her arms and hanging onto their two year old outside because they were afraid to go into the house for fear it would blow up. She said it was more than a 21-minute wait for Belleville.
During the council comments part of the meeting, Marcotte read prepared comments from his laptop that said he has heard rumors that the city fire department is struggling to respond and sometimes doesn’t respond at all.
“Unfortunately, on Oct. 24, my family and I called dispatch to report a natural gas smell,” he said. “After 21 minutes I called dispatch and was told nobody had called on the air to say they were coming. I thought that was enough. There was a gas leak next door and I thought that was enough time. I requested that Van Buren Township be sent.”
Marcotte said that the fire department did not respond was unacceptable. He asked the council for a fair and honest review of the city’s fire department and its training. He wanted to assure that the citizens get the service they pay for.
He said he has been at the scene of a natural gas explosion in the past.
Councilman Tom Fielder asked for a detailed account of the fire department be collected and made available at the council’s next meeting. He asked councilmembers to give questions to City Manager/Police Chief Dave Robinson for answers at the next meeting.
Councilman Fielder said that was a motion and Marcotte seconded it. Later in the meeting the motion passed unanimously.
City Manager/Police Chief Robinson said he has all of the records they are asking for, except for records he ordered from CLEMIS that he ordered the previous Thursday and hopes to get them as soon as possible.
Robinson said it was unreasonable to ask him to get all of that done in two weeks and come up with a plan. He said he wants to talk to Fire Chief Brian Loranger about why the runs aren’t made and prepare a plan going forward to resolve the situation.
He said he would do his best in two weeks, but it wouldn’t be a complete report.
Councilman Fielder said he expects this issue to be a topic of discussion for many months down the road and they will focus on what to do in the future.
Marcotte said it only takes a matter of minutes to run off reports that have been made to the state. He said they need a report on the amount of runs each individual responds to within 365 days.
Fire Chief Loranger said that Marcotte should have called him with his concern. Marcotte said he didn’t get a phone call from Loranger explaining why nobody came to his call.
Marcotte said Loranger has said in public meetings that he listens to the radio and calls for mutual aid when no one is available.
Loranger said he was in Florida. He said he does listen and call for mutual aid, but he doesn’t like to call mutual aid so as not to burden Van Buren Township.
Loranger said he has a part-time department, not a full-time crew like in Northville, referring to Northville Township where Marcotte is a full-time fire fighter.
Marcotte said the majority of fire departments in the United States are paid-on-call firefighters, although most of the population is served by full-time fire departments.
Marcotte said within their physical boundaries, the fire departments are responsible for handling their calls.
Loranger said it is pretty hard to hire fire fighters and he’s already taken some from Sumpter Township and almost one from Van Buren Township, but he was named chief.
Councilman Ken Voigt, a retired Belleville police officer, said he thought it automatically went to mutual aid after eight minutes of waiting.
Loranger said that’s the way it used to be, but now it depends on who’s on dispatch at Van Buren Township. They don’t hit the CAD so Belleville can see who’s responding. He said the city is paying $15 an hour for fire fighters and Sumpter is paying $19. He said he does the job of chief for $10,000 a year and has to worry about what happens and sometimes it isn’t fun.
A fire fighter said there is a big delay with dispatch. He said the call comes in and it goes to police and HVA first and then to fire, 5-7 minutes later.
Councilman Voigt said if fire fighters don’t respond in eight minutes, he thought it was automatic. He said he thinks eight minutes is too long, anyway.
Loranger said many of his fire fighters don’t live in the city and it takes time to respond.
“Nobody showed up,” Voigt said of Marcotte’s case.
“We requested mutual aid and it was less than 21 minutes,” Loranger said.
Marcotte said the dispatchers are recorded and you can FOIA that. He said the calls should go to the fire department then to HVA. He said you can expect delayed responding, but not no reporting at all.
Councilwoman Kelly Bates asked if the city has talked to the township about this and Loranger said he has talked, but it doesn’t go anywhere. He said he will get with the chief.
Robinson said he will find out exactly what the agreement is with Van Buren Township.
Marcotte pointed out that response time is important to the city’s ISO rating that sets the insurance rates.
Mayor Kerreen Conley said that Marcotte has the skill set and she asked him to work with the city manager on this.
Voigt said Belleville is $4 lower than Sumpter Township and the city needs to offer at least what Sumpter makes.
Loranger said the city fire fighters just negotiated a new contract.
Fielder said he didn’t intend to address specific issues in two weeks. He said council members should share their questions with the city manager, but don’t expect to solve anything at the next meeting.
Fielder said the fire department has frustrations and this is a community issue.
“We’ve had a personal issue,” he said. “A gas leak and nobody comes. What do we do?”
He suggested if people had an issue with the fire department to report what happened to the city manager.
Council candidate Steve Jones asked how many fire fighters they have and Loranger said it was 14, with two more not trained. He would like to have 18, or even 21.
“I’m willing to do anything we can to fix this,” Voigt said.
Mayor Conley recapped the discussion and called for a fair and timely investigation into the incident, with a look into policies and procedures, and evaluation of what’s going on. Give questions to Chief Robinson. She said she would rather the discussion be in a smaller group and she volunteered Marcotte because he has skills.
In last week’s edition of the online Eagle publication, Marcotte was featured in a story about a multi-state fire training exercise he conducted recently at Schoolcraft College in Livonia. The story identified Marcotte as Northville Township Fire Department Training Coordinator, noting his course was funded by a federal grant. He was referred to as “a nationally-known fire training expert.”
He is quoted as saying they practiced scenarios they could encounter in the field and, “Mistakes provide a good learning opportunity, but we want those mistakes to be made on the training ground, not in real life.”
At Monday’s meeting, Conley said to the fire fighters present, “At the end of the day we want you to get what you need and the residents get the services they pay for.”
Cornell Anton, who was present for another item on the agenda, thanked the fire fighters present for saving his life two times.
Conley said if part of the problem is dispatch, they will work with that.
A fire fighter said he also works for Sumpter Township and Belleville is not the only department where there are problems.
“I love what I do and I want to continue,” he said.
In other business at the Nov. 1 meeting, the council:
• Set a public hearing for Dec. 6 to consider an ordinance amendment on post-construction stormwater management as required by EGLE;
• Approved closing of High Street from Church to the Veterans Monument for an 11 a.m. ceremony on Nov. 11 to mark Veterans Day, put on by the Veterans of Foreign Wars and the Polish Legion of American Veterans; and
• Approved accounts payable in the amount of $167,542.79 and the following departmental expenditures in excess of $500: to Diversified Roofing, $2,250 for roof repair at the fire department; to EGLE, $1,340.28 for water supply annual fee; and to Fire Catt, $3,067.20 for fire hose and ground ladder testing.