Des Moines Fire Department cuts could have 'ripple effect,' union says
KYLE WERNER AND VIRGINIA BARREDA Des Moines Register
The Des Moines firefighters' union and city leaders are pushing back on proposed cuts to the city's fire department, saying that program reorganization and fewer staff could mean lower efficiency and longer wait times for residents.
Des Moines City Manager Scott Sanders recommended about $425,000 worth of staffing and program reductions for the fire department at a budget meeting on Wednesday, Aug. 26. That could mean eliminating two vacant positions — firefighter and analyst — $260,000 in savings, as well as hiring more already-certified recruit classes, $165,000 in savings.
Sanders also estimated $610,000 in new revenue by increasing the frequency of inspections, the fees it charges the surrounding seven counties for hazardous materials response and ambulance fees.
Altogether, the fire department's reductions and new revenue streams would make up about 9% of the roughly $11.5 million in Sanders' proposal, which includes savings recommendations from nearly all city departments, from IT to the Des Moines Public Library.
Des Moines officials are finding savings to fend off a $12 million budget deficit for the upcoming fiscal year 2028 that starts July 1, 2027. The city is expected to take on an additional $5 million deficit the following year. Officials blame the deficit on state property tax law reforms that limit the city's revenue growth.
The city's fire department has a $58 million budget for fiscal year 2026-2027, according to the city's operating budget. That's about 23% of the city's general fund.
Fire union president says proposed cuts would be damaging
Sanders' recommendations — which considered a public city budget survey to gauge community input — mark the beginning stages of what city officials predict will be years of rigorous belt-tightening exercises.
The Des Moines City Council will vote on Sanders' initial budget package on Sept. 14.
Des Moines Fire Department union president Joe Van Haalen said the proposed cuts would harm a department that is already lean.
The fire department works hard to be proactive in its community outreach and education, including its homeless and at-home health services, as well as its fire prevention program, he said.
"We're doing things on the front end to try to avoid the call volume on the back end. And so fire prevention has that same impact. If you're not doing that, then we're going to see an uptick in calls," he said.
"And I think what people need to understand is, as we've expanded that, that's someone taken away from our frontline firefighters," he added about the outreach programs. "Because it's those people that are doing those jobs and have filled those positions that we haven't moved back out onto the street. So everything has that ripple effect."
The Des Moines Fire Department's budget is authorized for 314 employees, which includes all sworn and professional staff, such as administrative assistants and trainers, Des Moines Fire Department Chief Jonathan Lund told the Register. Lund said 280 positions are dedicated to staffing the stations, and 34 positions are administrative.
Nearly all staff hold an EMS certification, as well as a firefighting certification. The department has a dozen firefighter vacancies, which leaders are going through the hiring process for, he said.
The Des Moines Fire Department responded to 33,921 calls in 2025, averaging 93 calls per day. Des Moines has been breaking its own record number of calls each year for about 17 years in a row, Lund told the Register earlier this year.
The city declined the Register's request to interview Lund about the proposed budget cuts, but Lund answered council members' questions at the August meeting about staffing and overtime. He also sent responses to the Register's questions about firefighter certifications and staffing.
"We need more firefighters … we're servicing more calls today than we did several years ago with a (smaller) number of firefighters," council member Linda Westergaard said during the August meeting. "I think that we should really look at adding firefighters, and maybe that means we have to cut the budget somewhere else."
Council member Rob Barron agreed the department is short-staffed but said the council should have more discussion over what it was prepared to sacrifice in order to increase the fire department's budget.
The city provides top-notch fire and EMS services to residents, and the department responds far quicker than many of its neighboring communities, Sanders told the Register in an email when asked whether the fire department's staffing levels are adequate.
"Council has indicated a desire to prioritize our response times with additional fire stations, apparatus and firefighters. We are developing plans to accomplish these aspirational goals," he wrote.
Sanders said the city is looking into grants that would allow the department to expand, including more stations and trucks.
Van Haalen said the International Association of Firefighters is helping the department conduct a study on where to replace and build fire stations, such as Station 8 on the city's south side, as well as to determine staffing and apparatus levels. The study could be done by November, he said.
Van Haalen said it was encouraging to hear some council members' support for maintaining staffing levels. With the city's goals to build new stations, it's important to have staff to fill those stations, he said.
"We get that there's going to be cuts, but I really feel like it's important that those cuts come from areas and services that aren't emergency services to the city of Des Moines," he said.
What did the city's budget survey say about cuts to the fire department?
Cuts to some fire department programs scored relatively high among residents who participated in the Des Moines budget survey. About 75% of respondents said the department should stop paying for training classes for recruits by hiring more recruits who are already trained, which would be $165,000 in savings.
Another 70% of respondents said the city should turn over several types of fire investigations to the Iowa State Fire Marshal's office. About 9% of respondents said the fire department should increase the number of firefighters to staff the Engines 8 and 9 pilot program.
Respondents also had the option to eliminate or add up to six positions in the fire department. Sixty-seven percent chose the option for no changes to staffing.
The budget survey went live in late June and closed in late July. About 2,600 residents, workers and property taxpayers filled out the survey. The survey also included a comments section, which about 29% of respondents filled out.
One commenter in Ward 1 on the city's northwest side said: "I'd prefer raising sales taxes in areas that non-residents visit over cutting police and fire services."
A participant from Ward 3, which covers the city's southwest side and downtown, said it would have been helpful to have more information about police and fire budgets, including staffing levels and department organization.
Would hiring pre-trained responders cause more staffing issues?
Sanders' proposal estimates $165,000 in savings from hiring recruits with paramedic certification — a savings that would come from not having to use Des Moines Area Community College (DMACC) for the paramedic training portion of the academy, Sanders said in an email to the Register.
The fire department would prefer to hire those with firefighter 1 and 2 training, Lund said.
Van Haalen said, however, there are only so many candidates who are already certified paramedics and firefighters
"I don't think we can rely on going on two to three years by only hiring certified people," Van Haalen said. "That's not realistic."
"It is a cost savings, but you have to be careful," he added. "At some point it'll be a point of diminishing returns. We just won't be able to hire people when we have to hire them."
Engines 8 and 9 being staffed through overtime
Among fire department budget issues discussed at the council table, council member Joe Gatto questioned why Engines 8 and 9 were listed as pilots on the city's budget survey, calling them necessary to respond to residents' emergencies.
In the budget survey, city officials asked community members whether Des Moines should add staff to the Engines 8 and 9 pilot. Nine percent of respondents said yes. But Sanders did not include any budget options or details about Engines 8 or 9 in his presentation.
Engine 8 is based in Fire Station 8 on the city's south side at 1249 McKinley Ave. Engine 9 serves Fire Station 9, 4800 Douglas Ave., on the city's northwest side.
The fire department ran two rigs side-by-side at Station 8 for more than a year, in what city officials called a pilot, to see if it would improve response times on the south side. Former Chief John TeKippe recommended pulling the additional rig out of service after he said there was no measurable benefit in keeping it in service after collecting 18 months of data. The suggestion ignited fierce backlash from union leaders and some City Council members.
Sanders said Engine 8 and Engine 9 continue in service as the third apparatus at each station. The city has been temporarily using unbudgeted overtime funding to staff them, an unsustainable model, he wrote to the Register.
At the budget meeting, Gatto advocated for hiring additional staff rather than paying firefighters overtime to run the engines.
The city has four options when it comes to running the rigs, Sanders told the Register: continue using the fund balance for overtime; discontinue the overtime use; make room in the budget with additional cuts elsewhere to fund the overtime; or use additional cuts elsewhere to hire new firefighters to staff the engines permanently.
State could take over most types of fire investigations
City officials are considering turning over fire investigations to the Iowa State Fire Marshal Division while maintaining arson investigations in-house.
Sanders told the Register the fire investigations team would continue to determine the origins of the fires, but non-arson fires wouldn't get further review from the city. While there aren't budget savings associated with this change, it would help free up staff for other duties including inspections and outreach, city officials said.
But Van Haalen said Des Moines would sacrifice timely and personal service should the state take over investigations.
"Right now, when we have a fire, we have an investigator there within minutes ... I can't even begin to tell you what that might look like with the state," Van Haalen said. "An hour would be a long time if we had to wait."
The Iowa State Fire Marshal Division employs 10 special agents and one special agent in charge of fire investigations. In 2025, it investigated 123 fires, according to the Department of Public Safety's 2025 annual report.
The Des Moines Fire Department has two full-time fire investigators, who work with police investigators and staff from the Polk County Attorney's office, if needed, Van Haalen said. Known as the Des Moines Arson Task Force, the team investigates about 350 to 400 fires each year, 65% to 75% of which are believed to be arson, according to the city's website.
The Iowa State Fire Marshal Division declined to comment on the division possibly taking over fire investigations in Des Moines.
Van Haalen says the state's team is effective, but he worries tacking on city investigations on top of the small communities it already serves will create backlogs in the system. One of the biggest impacts could be longer waits for people who file insurance claims, as well as repairs following a fire, he said.
Virginia Barreda is the Des Moines city government reporter for the Register. She can be reached at vbarreda@dmreg.com.
Kyle Werner is the breaking news and public safety reporter for the Register. Reach him at kwerner@registermedia.com.
