VIDEO: The Wahpeton Fire Department needs 45 firefighters to run at full operation. Like other departments, itโs facing some staffing challenges, but it wasnโt always this way. The department has been around since the 1880s. Right now it has 36 members, making it nine people down.
โRecruitment is more difficult right now. I have the same answer as everybody else, nobody knows. No one wants to volunteer and do those things anymore. Itโs getting pretty difficult,โ said Chief Brent Finnie with the Wahpeton Fire Department. He says staffing wasnโt this way when he started about 20 years ago.
โWhen I first joined, I actually waited a year cause we were at full staff then before I was able to join in. Then, it was busy, we had full membership and over time it just started dwindling.โ He wasnโt the only one on the waiting list. He says the department started to see more people leave after the pandemic but he canโt pinpoint an exact reason.
โWe started to kind of slow down a little bit as far staffing and not as many people wanted to help anymore. I think everybody is having that situation right now.โ While the department figures out staffing, thereโs another hurdle coming up as three firefighters could retire next year.
