Firefighter shortage for new city of South Fulton has officials scrambling

SOUTH FULTON COUNTY, Ga. — A local fire department is understaffed, and its future is in doubt with just weeks to find a solution.

Their union representative told Channel 2's Nefertiti Jaquez while the department is set to take over services for the new city of South Fulton County they have not been officially offered a job, at least on paper.

“There is a lot of uncertainty as to who will be employed, who will get jobs and at what rate," said Wayne Hines, the president of their union.

Hines said that uncertainty is causing angst among members of the department.

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“They are really anxious because they want to take care of their families,” Hines explained.

But they don’t know if they’ll have a job because they haven’t been guaranteed one even though the department is supposed to be taking over services for the new city on Feb. 6 of next year.

“We were told we would get our letter of intent, and a tentative job offer in January,” Hines said.

They are worried that could ultimately affect the thousands of residents the department serves.

Hines says, they technically need 220 firefighters to guarantee there are four crew members on firetrucks per the national standard. Right now, he says, they have three.

“Everybody (has) got questions and we want the details as soon as we can possibly get them,” Hines said.

Cox Media Group