It seems there can be a price placed on people's health - a price too low for comfort.
Muncie Mayor Sharon McShurley announced the city intends to lay off 40 of its 109 firefighters because of $3.8 million budget deficit. Despite these layoffs affecting the entire city, the implication this reorganization has on Ball State University can potentially be magnified.
With the proposed reorganization, there will be 16 firefighters at a time working, responsible for dealing with any fire in Muncie. In addition, Fire Station No. 5 - located on Tillotson Avenue and responsible for protecting the university - will continue to have one fire truck and a three-person crew.
Congratulations Muncie, there will be more people this fall protecting Cardinals' quarterback Kelly Paige from getting sacked than people first responding to a fire at LaFollette Complex.
Firefighters responding to a fire at Ball State is not a daily event. The Muncie Fire Department made less than 3 percent of its more than 6,000 fire runs to the university in 2008. However, the limited amount of firefighters working has Muncie Fire Chief Sean Burcham worried and it should have everyone around Ball State at least slightly concerned - unless Muncie plans on hiring Mr. Freeze to work for the fire department.
Sixteen people is probably enough to handle one fire at a time. If there are multiple fires throughout Muncie occurring at the same time, though, the consequences could be severe for everyone involved.
The three-person crew protecting Ball State also compounds the problem because federal Occupational Safety and Health Administration rules prevent fire crews from entering a building until at least four firefighters arrive. As a result, anytime Fire Station No. 5 responds to a potential fire it will need to wait for another station to respond.
Most of these firehouses are located less than five miles from the university and have quickly responded to Ball State fires in the past. With these other firehouses now having more responsibilities and area to cover, it should be a concern for city and school officials.
Ball State pays the city about $100,000 per year for its fire protection. In previous years this has been a good amount to pay the city, but with these new cuts the situation has changed for Ball State.
Similar to Muncie, the university is facing its own budget issues with Gov. Mitch Daniels proposing last week to cut higher education funding by about three percent. In a time of extreme budget cuts it is difficult to increase anything - except for college tuition prices.
One way Ball State could help would be to slightly increase its fire protection funding to the city, if it was guaranteed one more member would be added to Fire Station No. 5. This extra member would give the station enough people to respond to any fire call to Ball State and not be dependant on another fire station to arrive before entering the building.
Yes, Ball State students would be paying for this increase through their tuition money. However, even if this caused tuition to increase by $15 it could almost double the amount Ball State pays for its fire protection and give it more firefighters near campus.
It may not be what anyone wants to hear or wants to do, but paying a little more is worth the comfort of knowing the university is better protected.
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