An Ohio city's firefighters union says the "chronic understaffing" that has led to station brown outs and forced the department to spend its overtime budget in six months is causing "a much more significant" reduction in service than officials have claimed.
In an open letter to the city council, Youngstown's firefighters union disputed claims that its members were abusing personal leave as part of "any kind of protest or revolt." The letter was a response to a virtual meeting held by the Youngstown City Council’s Safety Committee on Thursday in which Chief Barry Finley said rolling station closings are not affecting the public's safety, WKBN-TV reports.
In the first five months of the year, the Youngstown Fire Department spent $116,000 on non-holiday overtime against a budget of $110,000. So far, call-offs are up 78 percent in 2020, but the number of calls have been down 14 percent.
"Your firefighter’s get sick, we get hurt, we have young families," the union stated in its letter. "Members of YFD are not abusing sick leave to purposely close fire stations and no one wants these stations open more than we do."
According to the union, the department hasn't replaced nine firefighters who either left or retired over the past years. The COVID-19 pandemic exacerbated the loss of those firefighters when a third of the department was quarantined at one station.
"The problem in our City is that we have cut both total staffing available and the overtime budget simultaneously in an attempt to save at both ends and this will always lead to a reduction in services," the union stated.
Earlier this month, the department began browning out stations after Finley and Mayor Tito Brown agreed that temporary closings were the only option left to the city. The union, however, has said station brown outs would risk public safety.
"We have simply reached the point where it is necessary to choose between hiring firefighters, higher overtime costs, or a reduced level of service," the union stated. "What you should be aware of is that as we close trucks the reduction in service is much more significant than the Fire Chief would lead you to believe."
