Most people assume that when a fire engine arrives at an incident, there are enough firefighters to do the job efficiently and safely. That’s not the case at East Pierce Fire & Rescue (EPFR).
We have only enough staffing to assign two firefighters to each fire engine. The national standards recommend four firefighters per engine, however in the Puget Sound region, the standard is three, leaving us one short to respond to your emergencies.
In this article, I will focus our current staffing needs. The numbers discussed do not address future needs, such as adding another medic unit to handle the increasing calls for medical emergencies.
We are a combination fire department that relies on career and volunteer firefighters to provide service to more than 90,000 people living within a 152-square-mile area. All of our firefighters are either firefighter-EMTs or firefighter-paramedics, who respond to every type of emergency.
Our call volume has grown and will continue to grow. This year, we are on track to respond to approximately 10,000 alarms — a nearly 7 percent increase over 2014.
To effectively respond to your emergencies, we must increase both career and volunteer staffing. Career firefighters staff six stations, 24 hours a day, seven days a week. Volunteer firefighters may sleep at a volunteer station or respond from home. We have three volunteer stations: one each in Milton, Lake Tapps and South Prairie. The volunteer response varies based on their availability (primary job, family, etc.).