A manpower shortage in the Oxford Fire Department that’s existed for almost nine months was finally rectified by the Oxford Public Fire and EMS Commission last week.
Commissioners voted unanimously to allow Fire Chief Jack LeRoy to fill the full-time firefighter position that was vacated in April 2003 when Paul Dallas resigned to assume a full-time position with the Pontiac Fire Department.
“I really can’t stress how much we need to fill this position,” LeRoy told commissioners.
The chief explained that since Dallas’ departure paid-on-call staff have been utilized to fill a majority of vacant shifts, but “there have been days when the stations did not have any personnel coverage.”
LeRoy also expressed his concern that the vacant full-time position adversely affects the department’s ability to fight fires.
“I barely turn out enough people to meet federal and state mandates now,” the chief said. “Fighting a fire takes eight people initially to legally make an entry into a building and cover all the positions that are necessary. Between our paid-on-call staff and our full-timers we’re hard-pressed in the first five minutes and those are the critical minutes of a fire. After that, we turn people out really well in the 15-to-20-minute frame. But it’s those first few minutes when we need them, we need them desperately.”
The vacant full-time position also “resulted in the inability of some full-time members to take vacation or personal leave when they originally requested,” LeRoy noted.
As a result of OPFEC’s action, Darin Balinski, who’s served as a paid-on-call firefighter for Oxford since June 1997, will become the department’s fourth full-timer (excluding the chief), a position that’s already fully funded in the 2004 budget.
“It felt so great,” said Balinski, who was present for OPFEC’s vote. “It’s been a long road. Just since April (2003), it’s been an emotional rollercoaster.”
Balinski was poised to be the new full-timer in May 2003, but OPFEC voted down the chief’s original request to fill the position after Dallas left.
The full-time position was left vacant and put on the back-burner for months. Filling the position was supposed to be addressed at the December 2003 OPFEC meeting, but the dispatch issue took precedence and it was not discussed, Balinksi said.
“The ups and downs were enormous,” Balinski said. “I was so relieved (when OPFEC voted to fill the position). The first thing I did was call my wife and let her know.”
Balinski has lived in Oxford since 1988. Prior to joining the fire department, he spent four years in the U.S. Navy as part of a “crash and salvage” division on the flight deck of an “LHD.”
An LHD is an “amphibious assault ship” that transports troops, such as marines, and serves as a take-off and landing point for helicopters and special jets, like the AV-8 Harrier, which takes off and lands vertically like a helicopter.
Balinski decribed his duties with the crash and salvage crew as “pretty much like being a firefighter.”
“You’re checking hoses. You’re always training and preparing. Always waiting for the unexpected,” Balinski said.
During his Navy years, Balinski said he only had to participate in one salvage operation when a CH-46 – a helicopter with dual propellors that serves as a troop transport – crashed.
Being in the Navy allowed Balinski to visit many exotic places in world such as Somalia, Haiti, Cuba, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates.
“You name it, I’ve been there,” he said.
After the Navy, Balinski began attending Oakland Community College and joined the fire department as a paid-on-call firefighter after seeing an ad.
From OCC he obtained his Fire Associate Degree in Firefighting Techology.
In addition to being a firefighter and Emergency Medical Technician, Balinski also serves as a CPR instructor for the department and is certified as both a trench rescue technician and ice rescue techinician.
When asked what he enjoys most about being a firefighter, Balinski replied, “The feeling that you’ve accomplished something and that hopefully you did all you can for somebody in their time of need.”
Balinski said he also likes the “comraderie, hanging out with the guys.”
When he’s not serving his community and protecting the public, Balinski owns and operates a videography business and enjoys spending time with his wife of four years, Kristine, and their 7-month-old daughter, Danielle.
The addition of Balinski as a full-timer will allow the branch station on W. Drahner Rd. to be manned all the time during the day, LeRoy said.
Full staffing means both fire stations will now be manned from 7 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday through Friday. On weekends, only the main station is manned during the day.
However, LeRoy said the department has budgeted for another full-timer to start in July, which would allow the branch station to also be covered on weekends.