COLUMBIA, S.C. — The Columbia Firefighters Associations recently raised concerns on the amount of staffing on trucks.
Columbia Fire Chief Aubrey Jenkins said it has to do with funding issues.
"I would say you can say shortage on the truck, but it's due to the funding," Columbia Fire Chief Aubrey Jenkins said.
"Everything goes back to the budget," President of the Columbia Firefighters Association said Jacob Eller said.
Eller said he couldn't remain silent any longer on the fact some trucks were riding with three instead of four firefighters.
"Normally the trucks that we would ride we would have four on them, but sometimes things happen like last year we weren't budgeted for the full request we asked for," Jenkins said.
Jenkins said it is not a law but more of a standard procedure to have four people on a truck, but due to funding around five stations were riding more frequently with three people.
"It is a tough decision to decide we are going to ride three people on certain unit," Jenkins said.
The chief views it as a safety issue, but still has had to make that call. But since they have been working to do a better job placing four people to a truck again. Part of the problem is filling the spot though.
"We have to give firefighters time off they get holidays, they get vacation days, so have to make sure that we have adequate funding," Jenkins said.
Jenkins said he has never had an issue with funding from the city.
He requested $23-million and received around $21.3-million from the county for his 2019-2020 budget.
"I think every fire chief would love to get the full amount request for his budget, but normally we don't get the full amount of the budget," Jenkins said.
Eller still has concerns about the work load when removing even just one person from a call.
"At what point does, you know, being fiscally responsible start and safety start coming into a factor," Eller said.
Both Jenkins and Eller are hopeful the budget can be resolved and this issue won't happen again, but will continue to do their jobs.
"I don't want the community to get in an uproar bout well, are we going to be able to respond, we are still going to be able to respond and we are going to respond appropriately," Jenkins said.
Richland County Council said they are working to resolve budget questions and their budget can be changed with a budget amendment.