In recent years, austerity measures in Hall County prompted many of the fire department’s firefighters to leave for more lucrative positions in other counties.
But county officials are hoping for a turnaround this year and in years to come to relieve strained stations operating on bare bones staff.
“It’s a money factor and a safety factor,” Hall County Fire Chief and Emergency Services Manager David Kimbrell said.
If stations were fully staffed, he said, there would be “less overtime and less cost of training.”
“When we are short-staffed and we’re thinly staffed, the safety factor comes into play, because inherently it’s a dangerous job, and if you have an inadequate number of people to do that, then our guys are still going to do whatever it takes to serve the citizens,” Kimbrell said. “Sometimes that means they are doing more than they should. Duties are more dangerous to do by themselves, so No. 1 it’s a safety factor.
“No. 2, we’re hiring overtime just to keep a minimum number of people in the station that we need to have to even open the doors.”
via County hoping to keep firefighters from leaving for higher paying jobs.
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