Austin firefighters sound alarm over proposed staffing reduction

As city administrators consider changes to the Austin Fire Department’s staffing model to save money during a period of unprecedented financial strain, leaders of Austin’s firefighters union are making the organization’s position unequivocally clear.

Austin City Manager T.C. Broadnax and Fire Chief Joel Baker have proposed cutting staffing on many AFD engines and other units from four firefighters per vehicle to three. The move would significantly reduce overtime spending and save an estimated $8.3 million in the coming fiscal year, according to the proposed 2025-26 budget Broadnax presented last week to the City Council.

But Bob Nicks, president of the Austin Firefighters Association, called the proposal “reckless” in a news conference and rally Monday outside City Hall. (Nearly all Fire Department employees are members of the association.)

“Firefighter staffing is the last thing we cut in a tough budget, not the first,” Nicks said, standing at a podium in front of at least 100 firefighters and their family members who attended the rally. Nicks and other speakers — including Edward Kelly, general president of the International Association of Fire Fighters — warned that a staffing reduction could endanger the lives of both firefighters and Austinites.

“If we lose an Austin firefighter in the line of duty because decision-makers in this city decided to reduce staffing, let me be the first to tell you: Stick your thoughts and prayers up your ass,” Kelly said in a thick Boston accent.

The proposal comes as the City Council works to address a significant budget shortfall for the coming fiscal year and considers holding a possible tax-rate election in November.

The staffing change would require the 11-member body to roll back a 2018 ordinance that mandates four firefighters on each apparatus. It’s not yet clear if a majority of council members would support such a move, but three members — Mark Duchen, Paige Ellis and Vanessa Fuentes — joined the fire union at its Monday rally in an apparent show of solidarity.

Baker has defended the proposed staffing reduction, arguing the change would not have a negative effect on public safety. Because of the number of units the Fire Department dispatches to critical incidents, the total number of personnel responding to a scene would remain above the industry-standard threshold, Baker said. The chief also framed the cuts as a preferable alternative to more drastic measures, including closing fire stations.

“It’s either temporarily do a staffing model reduction or blackout or brownout stations, which is not the answer,” Baker said during a City Council work session Tuesday.

The pushback comes as the firefighters union is negotiating a new labor contract with the city — and days after members overwhelmingly approved a vote of no-confidence in Baker.

The vote stemmed from allegations that Baker withheld help from Kerr County during the floods that devastated Central Texas and the Hill Country beginning July 4. Nicks previously told the American-Statesman that Baker had ordered a pause on all mutual-aid deployments in order to save money — and that lives were likely lost in the Hill Country as a result of that decision.