Every group of first responders have struggled to keep up staffing levels during the COVID-19 pandemic, and firefighters across the Valley have seen their share of attrition.
“It’s been all hands on deck everywhere to keep these front-line apparatuses going,” said Chandler Fire Battalion Chief Keith Welch about fire departments’ efforts across the Valley to stay properly staffed while firefighters have been out sick during the pandemic.
Valley firefighters have had to pick up extra overtime shifts to fill in for those out sick with COVID-19. But departments’ staffing woes have been mostly short-term, connected to those pandemic sick leaves. As long as coronavirus surges stay in the rearview, so should any major concerns about keeping firetrucks staffed in the region.
