West Virginia county faces decrease in emergency services amid rapid growth

The fire department and emergency services in Jefferson County, West Virginia are facing hiring freezes as well as "brown-out" units, meaning there will be a decrease in staffing as well as lengthened response times to emergencies in the county.

The comes as the county experiences rapid growth with new housing going up in many towns. There has not been an expansion of infrastructure and roads have been clogged with traffic. A decrease in emergency services could result in longer waits to clear car crashes from those roads.

The Jefferson County Professional Firefighters IAFF union chapter said in a post on Facebook, "The Jefferson County Professional Fire Fighters IAFF Local 5351 has been made aware that Jefferson County Administration is blocking the County’s Emergency Services department from hiring open positions citing budgetary concerns."

The union went on to state that there are a number of concerns with the freeze in hiring, including the "brown-out" of emergency units, meaning that there will be decreased daily staffing in emergency services. The union also said that there will be the "inability to hire 2 open positions, which decreases minimum daily staffing of at least one ambulance," as well as the elimination of previously approved emergency staffing positions.

The union also stated that there will be a "reduction of NECESSARY and/or required training for Fire and EMS personnel" as well as a "reduction of outreach, including Community CPR and First Aid classes the department hosts, and public education programs for schools and daycares throughout the county."

"Despite Fire Chief Sine's repeated attempts to request more funding for this year’s budget, the County required him to present a flat budget and never considered the growing needs of the department in a rapidly growing community.

"The county administration has done little to understand the needs of a Fire Department and what it means to offer emergency services to this community 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. Chief Sine has repeatedly made attempts to fight for the department, find creative solutions for staffing to best serve the community, but has been unable to make progress, resulting in the potential for significant impacts to the department and the community," the union said in a statement.

The firefighters union went on to say that Jefferson County is one of the largest growing counties in the state of West Virginia, and that "county Fire and EMS services will fall behind the real and projected growth in the county, despite repeated requests for additional personnel, increased training and updated equipment necessary to serve Jefferson County." The union then encouraged the public to contact the county commissioners to voice their concerns.