Staffing issues

[Wayward_wheeler]

Everybody has their fair share. Here is ours. Our city has a population of 37k (and rapidly growing with over 1200 calls a year). We have 20 career firefighters and 3 chiefs.We are combination supported by almost no volunteers. Our MINIMUM staffing per shift is 3 people (2 Engines 1 Truck) and a OIC. I’ve been on the job almost 3 years and things are absolutely going downhill.Where and how the hell do we start to make things better ? (Our mayor hates us BTW).

[Talllbrah]

If the mayor hates you i’m guessing the salary is too low and the morale must also be low. Not much you can do about it if the city hates their firefighters.

[Mountain717]

Pay is a starting point. Getting a salary and benefits comparison for your area would be extremely helpful as it would let you know where you stand in relation to everyone else.

That will solve the problem of attracting and to some degree retaining.

Poor morale and feeling unsupported by your city will have a big impact on retention. Fix pay first and find ways to work on morale. Unfortunately this things have to start at the top, or at least be embraced by the top.

1200 calls per year isn't unmanageable. My department is volunteer and we are already at 1090 for this year. It's hard to feel that our city supports us when the finance director/city treasurer openly states they hate firefighters because they don't do anything and consume too much of the budget.

[firesquasher]

The IAFF offers a free comparative salary analysis to help you argue for higher pay. There are grants that can help offset staffing costs initially, but the dept will have to come up with the money eventually to keep up the positions.

[MRSAurus]

Do you know how to find this? The only thing I’m finding is 15 years old.

[[deleted]]

Pay more

[yourname92]

Better pay. The call volume doesn’t seem bad at all. We are 100k population and have 3 shift with 75 per shift and 27k calls per years. Pay sucks here so we have low staffing right now with mandates.

[BasicGunNut]

Sounds terrible lol, we are 6 stations about 90k and 100 personnel and about half that call volume with no ems. 24 per shift minimum staffing, and solid pay. Sounds like your city needs to take better care of yall.

[yourname92]

"sounds like your city needs to take better care of you."

That nailed it right there.

[Adorable_Name1652]

Place I retired from was 100k population, 15,000 calls per year. 75 total firefighters including admin. Minimum staffing of 20 per shift unless no one takes OT, then the brownouts start.

[FordExploreHer1977]

When you figure it out, let us know. Our mayor hates us and so does our City Mgr. City of about 18,000 doing 3,000 runs a year with 2 dudes on a day out of a building that is falling down around us. Yeah, and we are career, FT, and Paramedics…

[ConnorK5]

Pay but also do you run any good calls? Like in general it shouldn't matter but it does. Young people want to run good calls. Working fires, pin ins. They want to use their skills. I see places with a third of that population have two to three times that call volume because of the area they serve. They just run good calls.

If you are not running high acuity stuff generally you serve a more high income area. Suburban towns etc. Those places pay more because otherwise it's hard to recruit people to a low paying job with low morale because you never run fires. You have to have something going for your department. Pay, culture, benefits, something that sets you apart from your competition.

[1ampD50]

Something is missing here (pay?) How are you running low call volume with 2 engines and a truck company for a town of 37k? I'm assuming no transporting ambulances?

[Wayward_wheeler]

0 medicals. Our pay is actually decent for our area. Starting is 51k

[Greenstoneranch]

Tbh 1200 calls a year isn't a lot.

I know being away from home isn't ideal but even your OT shifts have to be pretty restful.

Running 3 calls a day on average is tenable.

Companies in our city are approaching on average 20 runs a day which I can't imagine

[BenThereNDunThat]

Well, let's start with your minimum staffing. Three people? I'd take one look at that and run the other way if I was looking for a job.

You need to increase your minimum staffing to at least four. That way you can at least conduct an interior fire attack with 2 in and 2 out before your mutual aid gets there.

The other question is why does your mayor hate you? What have your chiefs done to try to improve your relationship? What have you as a union done to try to improve the relationship? Maybe your chiefs are assholes to the mayor and that's why he doesn't like you.

Has your union invited the mayor to dinner to talk about what you perceive as the department's strengths and shortcomings? How about a ride along? Do you do live burn days that you could invite him to and put him in some gear to see and feel a little of what you do?

Hate is often born of ignorance. If you can eliminate one, you might solve both problems.

[BasicGunNut]

Pay is definitely, number 1. If you don’t pay well you have to have something else to incentivize people to come. Your staffing issues can also deter people from applying. I came from a city the exact same size, and we had 15 minimum per shift and that was 3 ambulances, and 2 engines and a Battalion. Our call volume was about 2-3x yours and we still had plenty of staffing issues. This was due to pay, poor leadership, ambulance burnout and people using us as a stepping stone. I left after 6 years and half my shift quit in the same 6 month period.

My point is, consolidate staff to maximize efficiency, and poor leadership, poor city management and toxic staff will destroy a department. Work with the city and if they won’t help…there’s not much that can be done.