SPOKANE, Wash — The Spokane Fire Department’s going through a hiring spree with the hopes of making up for a staffing shortage that’s been impacted by the pandemic.
SFD hopes to hire up to 40 new firefighters. That’s about 10% of the 379 positions the fire department has budgeted.
“We're sitting right now on a critical vacancy rate in our organization,” said SFD Fire Chief Brian Schaeffer.
There's a lot of factors behind the shortage.
According to Chief Schaeffer, the pandemic played a big part and before that there was no academy while they waited on the results of the public safety levy.
Schaeffer said that once it passed, they had a hiring process. However, that also fell right at the beginning of the pandemic, meaning they couldn't bring the new hires on for a year.
“All throughout that time, we've had people leaving due to retirement. Also from the governor's mandate we lost a number of people,” Schaeffer said.
Chief Schaeffer said a number of the unvaccinated firefighters were hired back into accommodated positions, such as the Fire Marshal's office and in the dispatch center.
In the meantime, the shortage has taken a toll on the department with firefighters getting overtime to pick up the slack.
“It's been exceptionally hard for us on a day to day basis," Schaeffer said.
Randy Marler, president of the Spokane Firefighters Union Local 29, agreed.
“They're working a lot. They're spending a lot of time away from their families, making sure that our community's protected," Marler said.
Both Marler and Schaeffer say hiring 40 firefighters now would go a long way towards getting up to full staff. But, it's not the only thing on their radar.
The EMS levy is also up for renewal in an upcoming special election. According to the proposition, the levy would generate about $13.1 million for the fire department's budget of $57 million.
If passed, the levy renews. If it doesn't, the SFD fire chief said it could mean changes.
“It could result in closed firehouses. It will certainly result in a decrease of at least 80 positions and that across our entire deployment system will definitely impact response times and outcomes," Schaeffer said.
This means that come next week, SFD will know if they'll be getting closer to normal or need to cut back.
Voting for the EMS levy takes place this upcoming Tuesday.
Ballots have already been sent out.