TOWSON, Md. — You can't schedule an emergency. So for fire and EMS personnel, staying a couple hours past your shift, or even coming in on a day off is just part of the job. And that means - so is overtime pay.
In Baltimore County, the people writing the paychecks are trying to cut down on that, according to the union that represents the fire department’s members.
“We are projected to be somewhere between seven to eight million dollars over budget,” when it comes to overtime pay in the Baltimore County Fire Department, said John Sibiga.
Sibiga is the president of the union, the Baltimore County Professional Firefighters’ Association.
He's also an almost 40 year veteran of the department, currently serving as a captain. So he's seen it all.
“We've had some of these staffing issues many years ago that we were able to work through. I haven't seen it this bad in a number of years, probably somewhere in the neighborhood of 15 or 20 years ago."
The staffing shortage and subsequent overtime issue means the fire department has had to resort to taking two fire engines out of service on weekdays - usually one engine in Dundalk, and one in Towson. The department says the engines being taken out of service are only used from 7 a.m. to 5 p.m. on weekdays, and clarifies that both fire houses still have another engine that is fully staffed during the daytime shift.
Sibiga says this has been going on for about three months, but this week, the union decided to make it public on social media, to make people aware of the challenges the department is facing.
“It's reached a significant level where every single day, we're putting engines out of service. We would put them out of service every once in a while but it seems to be a problem that's very prevalent every day," Sibiga said.
Sibiga says there's about 120 vacancies in the fire department. One problem he sees with recruiting new applicants is that the county has the longest retirement requirement in the state, - employees hired after 2007 need 30 years of service to get a pension, compared to 20 or 25 in neighboring counties.
“Everybody is hiring right now. And if you choose to be a fire or an EMS, you kind of have your pick of the jurisdiction which you wish to go to," Sibiga explained.
And the need for adequate staffing is even greater now, because the number of emergency calls has gone up too.
In 2022, the Baltimore County Fire Department responded to more than 150,000 calls. Sibiga expects the 2023 number, which hasn’t been released publicly yet, to be around 220,000.
“I think part of the problem is we do not do a very good job at educating the public when and when not to call 911. […] That's a national problem. People are using the emergency room as primary care physicians or just need a ride to the hospital or don't necessarily need emergency services. But our job is to serve the public and when the public calls, we are responsible for responding," Sibiga said.
In a statement, the fire department says it's currently training new recruits to address vacancies, and is basically re-directing some personnel to help with the training, leading to the two engines not being staffed. Sibiga says in the past - any staff needed for training efforts would usually be replaced, using overtime.
Below is the full statement from Fire Chief Joanne Rund:
“The safety of our residents and first responders is a top priority. As part of Baltimore County Fire Department’s ongoing effort to actively address vacancies, BCoFD is currently holding two recruit training programs and – in alignment with department policy – is adjusting deployment of two engines to support these efforts. These adjustments will not impact the levels of service our residents expect and deserve and are part of the department’s ongoing commitment to keep our communities safe and maintain high standards of training and preparedness.”
Councilman Mike Ertel, who’s district includes Towson, says he's keeping his eye on the problem. He says it's not ideal, but doesn't believe it's having an impact on public safety.