Milwaukee Fire Department: Name Change

UPDATE, July 26, 2011: Aldermen balk at changing name of Fire Department
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Milwaukee Alderman Terry Witkowski wants to rename the Milwaukee Fire Department to Milwaukee Emergency Response Services.

From the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel:

The Milwaukee Common Council is considering a proposal by Ald. Terry Witkowski to rename the Milwaukee Fire Department as Milwaukee Emergency Response Services.

Witkowski said the change would better reflect the work of the department. He said only 7% of the department's calls are related to fire; the remainder range from paramedic services to chemical cleanups. The new name would save the department from criticism that it responds to relatively few fires, making the department less of a target during the city's next round of budget cuts, Witkowski said.

"A part of what makes me bring this forward is that every time we go through budget cuts, we hear about this 7%," Witkowski said Wednesday.

Witkowski added that the name change would cost very little - uniforms, engines and stationery with the new name would be ordered only as equipment wears out.

Fire Chief Mark Rohlfing agreed that the department was "a multiservice organization," but he remains wary of the way the alderman is pursuing the change. Rohlfing hoped that a name change would be accompanied by a larger discussion of the department's role in responding to the city's emergencies.

"Let's talk about it, you know, look at our mission, our vision, and look at what we want to change our name to, what best reflects what we do," Rohlfing said Tuesday. "One of the reasons they hang on to that name is tradition, pride and all those kind of things."

Rohlfing said he expects the firefighters union to oppose the name change.

...The ordinance will be considered at Thursday's meeting of the council's Public Safety Committee. If approved by the committee and the council, the name change will be effective in 60 days, although the department will continue to be officially chartered as a "fire department organization."

With all due respect, this is a lame idea, an utter waste, weird politics.

Does Witkowski really believe that a name change for the department would make it less of a target when it comes to budget concerns?

"Milwaukee Emergency Response Services" wouldn't be immune from budget cuts.

What an ineffective smokescreen!

Witkowski's plan to have "uniforms, engines and stationery with the new name... ordered only as equipment wears out" is ridiculous.

A name change would involve more than altering uniforms, engines, and stationery. Witkowksi doesn't consider other things such as equipment and signs and the fire stations themselves.

The process would take years, possibly decades.

Ask firefighters if they want to be called "emergency response service workers," since they really don't spend a lot of time responding to fires.

I don't think it would go over too well.

Should the Milwaukee Public Schools be renamed Milwaukee Public Child Warehouses, Meal Halls, and Leftist Indoctrination Centers, to better reflect the reality of what happens there?