HENRY COUNTY, Ga. — Firefighters in a local county told Channel 2 Action News people could die because their department is not meeting industry standards.
As a firefighter for the Henry County Fire Department, Wayne Burch is concerned for his life every time he races to put out a fire. As union president, he told Channel 2's Nefertiti Jaquez he's also worried about the lives of his coworkers and the people he serves.
“Everyone wants to go home, we want to go home to our families and the fact that we don’t have men on the truck - there’s always that doubt in the back of your head that something could happen," he said.
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That “doubt” is magnified because Burch said the department is understaffed and the shortage leaves the county at risk.
They currently have a staff of 259. Of that staff, there are only 86 working firefighters on any given day to cover a county of more than 200,000 people.
“We have two men per truck on more than three quarters of our trucks.”
But according to National Fire Protection Association standards say they should have four firefighters on/per each truck.
“One of our firefighters could be hurt or potentially killed,” Burch said.
Residents we spoke to wonder what this means for them.
"A major concern is safety for all of us. Safety for them, safety for us. To men can’t do a four to five man team job," one resident told us.
Cox Media Group
