Goodbye Engine, Hello ​“Fly Cars”?

When the mayor unveils his proposed budget next week, he might move to retire an East Rock fire engine and replace it with a couple of station wagons.

Not just any station wagons: They would be Advanced Life Support vehicles that carry paramedics and equipment to medical emergencies.

Unlike the city’s two existing ALS units, which are more like ambulances, these would not have room for transporting patients. In other cities, the vehicles are sometimes called ​“fly cars” and can be station wagons or SUVs.

The city might purchase a couple of the small ALS units and retire a big white fire engine currently operating out of the Whitney Avenue fire station in East Rock, according to neighborhood Alderman Justin Elicker, whom the city administration notified about the plan.

Rob Smuts, the city’s chief administrative officer, declined to discuss the plan. He did acknowledge that the administration is considering picking up smaller ALS units.

Smuts said the city plans to make a decision around the time the mayor drops his budget, around March 1.

Elicker said he has been lobbying for the administration to hold a community meeting on the decision. He said he wants East Rock neighbors to have an opportunity to hear the options available and to weigh in on what should be done, before it’s decided for them.

“That’s what we plan to do,” said Smuts. He said the administration will hold a community meeting after it comes to a ​“tentative decision” to present the plan to East Rock neighbors.

“I think that’s a bad way to do business,” said Elicker. He said that while he’s happy to hear a meeting will happen, he’d like it to happen before any kind of decision is made, tentative or final.

The possible apparatus adjustment is part of a larger trend in the fire department, which is moving away from its traditional role of fighting fires. More and more service calls are for medical emergencies.

While the fire department responds to those calls and treats patients, it doesn’t usually transport them to the hospital, according to Smuts. Since transportation is done by private ambulance companies, the city could operate smaller ALS units, just big enough to transport paramedics, not patients.

Smuts declined to talk about the possibility of retiring an engine. ​“I’m not going to go into that unless we decide to do that,” he said. ​“Once a decision is made we can talk about that.”

“I’ve been pushing to get more information,” Elicker said.

Elicker said he thinks city officials will go ahead and make the trade of ALS units for engine. ​“It looks like that’s what they’re planning on doing,” he said.

“I have some concerns about it,” Elicker said. He said he worries that response times in East Rock would increase if the engine were taken out of service.

The Whitney Avenue station has other trucks that can respond to calls. But one of those is a ​“Squad,” one of only two in the city, Elicker said. That means it might be deployed elsewhere in the city when an East Rock fire call comes in, Elicker said.

Elicker said he understands the city has to balance budget concerns with public safety concerns. ALS units can bring in revenue for the city, since the city can bill insurance providers for firefighter response to medical emergencies, he said. That’s in contrast to an engine, which is expensive to maintain and does not bring in money.

Matt Smith, East Rock’s other alderman, said the swap of engine for ALS units might make sense given the changing role of the fire department.

“I’m not sure entirely what the entire plan encompasses,” Smith said. ​“I’m a little concerned about what I’m hearing so far.”

“I’d be concerned that removing the engine would put at risk our ability to have a good fire suppression unit here in East Rock,” he said. A lot of houses are close together, he said, increasing the possibility of a fire spreading if it’s not quickly contained.

On the other hand, having an ALS unit in East Rock could mean faster response times to medical emergencies, Smith said. ​“There are definitely competing interests that need to be balanced.”

Smith said he likes Elicker’s idea of having a community meeting.