East Bethel work session backs duty‑crew pilot, tighter limits on nonemergent medical responses

EAST BETHEL, Minn. — City officials discussed a package of changes to the East Bethel Fire Department at a work session April 28, proposing a daytime ‘‘duty crew’’ pilot, narrower response to nonemergent medical calls, and a reclassification of a fire inspector into an assistant/operations role.

Jerry, the presenter who conducted a one‑year study of the department, told the mayor and council the city currently operates a volunteer model and that the department has 27 on‑call firefighters but would need “at least 40” and possibly “50” to meet desired service levels. He said the department’s pension credit is currently about $8,000 a year per qualifying member and that the city’s on‑call starting hourly rate is about $16 per hour; by comparison, Forest Lake pays on‑call members more than $30 an hour, he said.

The change under consideration would formally restrict some nonemergent medical responses — examples Jerry described as abdominal pain, low‑risk fevers, chronic cough and routine lift assists — while maintaining full response to life‑threatening events such as cardiac arrest, severe bleeding, choking, drowning, electrocution and similar high‑priority incidents. “If you need us, call us. But don’t immediately tone us out,” Jerry said, describing how dispatch and incident information can trigger a response if a call’s condition escalates.

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