TAMPA, Fla. — Tampa's population is skyrocketing; that's no secret. In the last 15 years, the city has grown 30% and projections show no signs of slowing down.
But Tampa's Firefighter Local 754 Union President Nick Stocco isn't seeing that same growth where we need it most: public safety.
"We are still operating with decade-old equipment, whether it's technology or vehicles, and our staffing requirements have not gone up with the increase in population," he said.
On Thursday, Stocco, along with the fire chief and their police counterparts, will address the city council with their vision for the Public Safety Master Plan.
"City council really does planning for the budget. And unlike times in the past, we've had to go out and ask for money last minute, whether it's $200,000, or $400,000, for equipment, and that doesn't give the city council really a good budget idea on what is needed for the future, whether it's a one year plan, five-year plan, 10-year plan," he explained.
Councilmember Luis Viera is passionate about funding public safety, especially if that means getting ahead of potential problems.
"If you look at the last few years in the city of Tampa, we've remedied some challenges we have in East Tampa and North Tampa with Tampa fire, but that's more reactive than proactive. I want to have an entire look at all the city of Tampa so that we take a proactive approach," Councilmember Viera said.
For the last three years, there have been calls for a master plan. The plan would allocate money specifically for public safety needs over time, addressing existing issues and getting ahead of ones that could lie down the road.
In 2020, the Union presented a study examining the issues plaguing the city. Many of those issues, they believe, are absent from any future planning. It identified three areas in immediate need of a new fire station and 17 more that could use a station.
"We did an international study in 2019 that called for three stations immediately. And if we did not add a station in the downtown Water Street district, that we wouldn't be in compliance with industry standard to be able to protect those areas with fire protection. It called for 17 total stations, but three immediately, and we have not added any," he explained. "We do not see any in the plan for Channelside or Westshore or New Tampa, and the Bruce B Downs area, which is seeing another amount of significant growth."
Stocco added that resources are stretched so thin that some stations have to respond to calls outside their designated neighborhoods.
"We have a huge issue with overlapping of units. So the fire station in your neighborhood may not be running to your house. It's actually running to the neighborhood over where the other fire station is because of the increase in call volume that we've had. So we're seeing longer response times and longer times that an ambulance can get to your house."
Some stations are averaging response times in the double digits. However, the sweet spot is four minutes. That's from the time the call is made to when a first responder shows up.
"It's kind of hitting both sides, to me personally, right? The firefighters are being overworked, and we're understaffed. So you deal with the stressors," he said. "And to the citizens, I sometimes text my closest friends, even my loved ones at home, and I say careful driving. We don't have any ambulances right now on the street to be able to get you to the hospital."
The troubles the study found don't end there. It found about 15 stations in need of upgrades. A station 30 years or older generally needs updating.
The biggest issue is West Tampa Fire Station No. 9, built in 1958. Stocco provided recent pictures showing the mold throughout the building. On average, 9-10 firefighters are inside the station.
"The complaints of the mold or the animals, the rodents in the stations. These stations are completely out run. They are residential houses being used as commercial establishments. We work in them 24 hours, seven days a week, 20-30 calls a shift. You can only imagine the amount of damage that we're doing to these stations by going in and out of them," he said.
The conversation is set to happen during Thursday's Council meeting.
