Austin firefighters face heat dangers due to lack of air conditioning in fire trucks

AUSTIN, Texas - Austin City Council member Mackenzie Kelly has made recent efforts to raise awareness on the heat dangers firefighters face, pointing out that there are several vehicles firefighters use that don't have any air conditioning. 

Council member Kelly joined FOX 7 Austin's Mike Warren in studio to discuss. 

MIKE WARREN: Thanks for joining us again.

MACKENZIE KELLY: Thank you for having me.

MIKE WARREN: You are a former and current firefighter. Is it a no-brainer to get these trucks equipped or retrofitted with AC?

MACKENZIE KELLY: It absolutely is a no-brainer, Mike. I would not want on the hottest day of the year to be outside in my bunker gear clearing a crash or accident on our roadways and then have to jump into a fire truck that has absolutely no air conditioning. It makes sense to try and get these fixed in a way that is expedient. But also we need to ensure that we have the resources at our fleet department to maintain these vehicles. And it's my understanding that they currently have several vacant positions of which they're looking to fill. And around budget season, which we are now, is a great time to dig deeper into that issue.

MIKE WARREN: Are there other first responders in Austin who need more funding?

MACKENZIE KELLY: Oh, absolutely. We need to focus on retention and recruitment and ensuring that not just our police department is taken care of, but that fire, EMS, even our emergency management departments have everything that they need in order to keep our city safe.

MIKE WARREN: Talking about these subjects. Has Austin simply grown too fast for city services to keep up with the growth?

MACKENZIE KELLY: That's a great question. One of the things that I'm trying to focus on is ensuring the long term viability of our city and ensuring that the infrastructure matches the amount of people that we have here as residents and visitors. It is the fault of former councils for not ensuring that the infrastructure was in place in order to expand when we grew. We're looking at different projects in our district and different proposals in the city to ensure the long term viability of departments such as roadways, making sure that the potholes are fixed in a timely manner, and making sure that our water department and our electric department have the resources that they need. And so next week, I'm really looking forward to those discussions about our enterprise departments and the long term impacts those investments will have on the rest of the community.

RELATED: Multiple Austin fire trucks do not have working air conditioning, leaving firefighters sweltering in heat

MIKE WARREN: On Wednesday, the council heard public comment on the proposed city budget, including some residents who think the police department is getting too much in the budget. Why would more funding be a bad idea?

MACKENZIE KELLY: More funding is not a bad idea, especially for a department that a lot of these individuals who are speaking, I'm not sure realize, has to run 24 seven. And when you're funding salaries on a 24-hour basis, seven days a week to ensure public safety in our community, then of course the budget's going to be larger. I think that there there were activists who came before council are scared that if we raise the budget for the police department, then will be affected by the state law that passed that doesn't allow us to reduce the budget after that. But we have to stay in line with the police budget As far as increasing salaries go at the same rate the rest of the city is going to get the increased funding. So we're looking at a 4% raise across the board for city employees. But then also the police department. 

MIKE WARREN: You know, the police department defunded earlier. Is this increase part of a replacement or accounts for that defunding or how does that work?

MACKENZIE KELLY: So it's definitely not a replacement or any part of the defunding that happened in 2020 before I was elected. It is partly because of salary increases. Historically, the city has given raises across the board for employees who are non sworn and also sworn. So we want to make sure that that's in the budget so that we're not mistreating our employees or treating them differently in the form of salaries. I'll also say that one of the differences in the budget this year is a several different H.R. employees who are moving back into the police department, so they can focus on police alone because we've had problems in the past and even recently related to paying for overtime in a timely manner.

MIKE WARREN: More of a general question What do you think is the biggest challenge living in Austin?

MACKENZIE KELLY: There's several challenges living in Austin, including affordability. Our council has several little pet projects that they like to support, and I would say that our city needs to get back to the basics. We need to find the things that the city is supposed to fund public safety, infrastructure, making sure people can get to work, making sure that the city is a safe place to work, live and play and raise a family in. And so I'm really looking at this budget as a way that we can move forward and get back to basics and spend less on those pet projects and social justice initiatives that some of the other council members find important.

MIKE WARREN: Okay, for now, we are out of time. But McKenzie Kelley, District six, council member, as always, thanks for the update on City hall.

MACKENZIE KELLY: Thank you.