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'When you're down 30%, it's inevitable' | Harrisburg Fire Department back in service following closure

Station 3 said it had to close twice in 48 hours due to a shortage of command staff.

HARRISBURG, N.C. — Harrisburg Fire Department Station 3 is back in service after representatives for the Cabarrus Professional Firefighters Association posted on social media staffing shortages forced them to close twice in 48 hours over a busy Fourth of July weekend.

In response, Harrisburg town manager, Rob Donham, told WCNC, they had an incident Saturday where one of their scheduled fire personnel scheduled had a last-minute medical issue.

"Our Deputy Fire Chief decided to switch staff around to other stations to accommodate their absence," Donham emailed. "Chief Dunn’s quote on Saturday was that he moved extra personnel to our other two stations because 'Over staffing 2 stations gives the Town better service in situations like this. Our multiple other stations, Cabarrus County EMS, and mutual aid agreements provide for excellent coverage in these rare circumstance where we have a sick or injured firefighter out with short notice. We do not expect any significant service difference when these situations occur.'”

Harrisburg is located between Concord and Charlotte, two of the state's biggest cities. 

Representatives for Local 3393 said part of the problem is because of lateral hiring where people with some training and tenure are going elsewhere for a higher salary. 

Anthony Evans, trustee of Professional Firefighters and Paramedics of North Carolina, was also a former president of the firefighters union which includes the Harrisburg Fire Department.

"They're trained, they're passionate -- they want to do the best for Harrisburg," Evans told WCNC Charlotte. "But when they don't have staffing and they don't have money for their employees, it makes it very hard to do their job. If you have three people instead of four, it changes the entire game."

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Evans and Jeff Tracey, district vice president for PFFPNC, said the town of Harrisburg is hiring but has employee retention issues, primarily because they're not paying enough. 

They said starting base pay for a firefighter in Harrisburg is about $38,000 as of July 2023. 

"Harrisburg did do a pay study," Evans said. "The pay study was still below the statewide standard."

Donham argued, the town confirmed with Evans at the time he was president of Local 3393, that the pay study was accurate. 

"However, we both agreed that firefighter pay throughout the country isn’t commensurate with the hard work and dedication needed for the job," Donham said. "We have never heard back from the local fire union on any issues until this story ran which was a surprise to the town."

Down about a dozen people, or 30%, Tracey said that number is almost an entire shift's worth of staff not responding to emergency calls. 

"Obviously, that's going to increase your response times -- an industry standard, we're looking at having the entire assignment of companies dispatched to a house fire on scene in eight minutes," Tracey said. "That's assuming that first company is going to be there in three or four minutes average once they get out the door. But if that company shut down, your next company is going to be six minutes away."

Donham acknowledged firefighter staff shortages, noting it is a challenge the fire service is seeing nationally.

The town manager said, "Harrisburg has certainly had to deal with that challenge the same as any other department. We are not down 30% though, we currently have a 54 person department and have 8 vacancies for fire fighters. We have 3 new recruits in training ready to start this fall which will fill 3 of the 8 vacancies. Although due to our growth we have added 3 more fire fighter positions in 2024, and are always actively recruiting people since we are one of the fastest growing towns in North Carolina."

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Tracey added the only reason why Station 3 was able to operate again on July 3 is because the battalion chief moved to the back of the station's truck.  

"That's like taking your CEO to go sell groceries at Harris Teeter," Tracey said. "It was a step in the right direction but when you're down 30%, it's inevitable it's going to happen again. And we're going to tell the public every single time it's going on."

The town manager, Rob Donham, told WCNC the town of Harrisburg did not experience a break in calls for service while Station 3 was closed.

Anyone looking to work in the Harrisburg community should visit www.harrisburgnc.org and apply online.

Contact Jane Monreal at jmonreal@wcnc.com and follow her on FacebookTwitter and Instagram.

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