Tucson Fire Department chief Chuck Ryan says staffing shortages are the department's biggest challenge right now.
Ryan took over as TFD chief nearly three years ago. He says the department’s staffing shortages have “slowly improved” since then, but the department is still about 50 firefighters short of an ideal total of roughly 700.
Twenty-nine recruits just graduated in June. The second academy starts later this month, with the class set to graduate this December.One of those stresses is ‘Emergency Constant Staffing’ — a form of mandatory overtime. The model calls firefighters in on days off to prevent units from being shut down.“It’s really designed to do the right thing by the citizen and maintain the service coverage that we promise to deliver,” he explained. “It does, admittedly, put a strain on the employees at times.
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