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Shreveport fire chief says automatic aid to Caddo Parish strains city resources; staff asked to review agreement
Summary
Shreveport Fire Chief Farris told the City Council the department sent about 13 suppression units to a fully involved house fire in Caddo Parish and recommended reviewing the city’s automatic-aid pact with Caddo Fire District 5 to avoid straining Shreveport’s response capacity.
Shreveport Fire Chief Farris told the City Council that Shreveport responded with about 13 suppression units to a large, fully involved house fire on Ellerbe Road in Caddo Parish and that the city's automatic-aid arrangement with Caddo Fire District 5 contributed to sending multiple city units outside municipal boundaries.
"Engine 19 was the first unit on scene on this fire," Chief Farris said, describing difficulties getting water to the property and saying roughly 13 units were on hose lines or operating ladder trucks. He added that some of the 18 units reported on the dispatch dashboard were not suppression vehicles and that backups had increased response times for other calls in the city.
Council members said the city's heavy deployment to the out-of-city fire taxed resources. Councilman Green and Councilman Brooks both said they feared longer response times for Shreveport residents when engines are committed outside the city. Brooks noted he supported Chief Farris’s preference to change the agreement.
Farris told the council that the automatic mutual-aid arrangement has been in place since about February 2009 but said the current practice had evolved from the original terms. "Citizens of Shreveport pay for one fire department," he said, and asked the council to consider reverting to a standard mutual-aid arrangement in which Shreveport would respond when asked rather than provide a full, automatic response outside city limits.
Council members asked for the written agreement and the terms that bound the city, and the mayor’s office and chief indicated they would review the document and meet with Caddo Fire District 5 leadership. The chief reported he had emailed Caddo Fire District 5 and requested a sit-down meeting; the mayor’s representative said staff would obtain and review the 2009 agreement to confirm whether the council previously voted to approve it and what vote (if any) would be required to change it.
No formal motion to rescind or amend the agreement was made at the meeting. Council members expressed a consensus that the city should prioritize protecting Shreveport response capacity and requested further staff analysis and a report back to the council.
The discussion included operational detail and planning questions but did not adopt new policy or change the automatic-aid arrangement during the session.
