February 4, 2025 // KTOO

Logan Balstad is the chapter president. He said that none of the responses to the 18 structure fires in Juneau last year met the National Fire Protection Association’s standard for minimum number of staff responding.

“It is clear that our department struggles to assist the community on many small emergencies, let alone any of moderate to severe impact to the public,” he said.

Balstad said there simply aren’t enough firefighters to respond to emergencies. The department has been relying on mandatory overtime to staff response teams.

January 9, 2025 // Juneau Empire

Sanchez said over his 10 years at the department, he has noticed “we’re doing more and more and more with either the same or less amount of staffing.” He said they also have a higher risk of cancer and cardiovascular emergencies due to exposure to hazardous substances and the lack of sleep caused by their schedules. He said the union believes mandatory overtime should be used as a last resort, but it’s being increasingly required to meet minimum staffing needs.

“People are leaving for different schedules, more money, burnout,” Sanchez said. “We respond to the landslides, respond to avalanches and all these things that we’re doing; the river rescues, the flooding, all the things. We’re just asking for a little bit more help on that, because truly, our responder numbers are declining.”

Jan 7, 2025 // KTOO

Fire Chief Rich Etheridge said the staffing shortages mean fewer people can respond to fires.

“They work to the point of exhaustion, and then they go get cleaned up and get ready for the next calls,” he said.

Etheridge said wages are negotiated every three years between city management and the firefighter’s union. Currently, starting wages are between $18.30 and $22.50 an hour, with an expectation to work 56 hours a week.

“We have a minimum staffing every day, and we’ve been able to meet minimum staffing,” he said. “But it usually does take mandatory overtime, where people don’t have a choice whether they want to work it or not.”

August 13, 2018 // KTOO

Travis Wolfe, head of the local firefighters union, praised Monday night’s action. But he reiterated the union’s position that the community needs an ambulance crew staffed around the clock.

“This ordinance is going to get us that first step that we absolutely need and that’s getting that ambulance on the road 24 hours a day,” Wolfe said.

August 13, 2018 // KTOO

Both the city administration and front-line firefighters say the fire department already is stretched thin, and the extra staff is necessary to respond to a dramatic increase in medical calls.

August 6, 2018 // Juneau Empire

“The Assembly should consider providing appropriate funding to the department so we can better protect our citizens with an additional 24-hour ambulance,” Wolfe said in the release.

“Adding staffing has been a priority for the IAFF and this first step is the most important. We need to plan for the future and a 12-hour ambulance doesn’t even come close.”

September 17, 2017 // KTOO

photo: Brian Wallace

“What happened on that fire is that our crews were tired and worn out responding to lots of call volume and they had trouble mustering enough people to respond to what should have been a relatively simple house fire,” City Manager Rorie Watt said.

“That is worrisome.”

September 17, 2017 // Juneau Empire

CCFR fought the fire for four hours, finally extinguishing the blaze at 8:32 a.m. Four firefighters were taken to the hospital due to smoke inhalation and exhaustion. As of 12:07 p.m. Sunday, three of the firefighters were medically cleared and one was still at the hospital.

December 28, 2016 // Alaska Public Media

Volunteer firefighters help, but Chambers said there aren’t enough people who can give the time.

That means Juneau’s firefighters just have to grit their teeth and get stretched thin, sometimes too thin.

Chambers said stacked calls are one of the downtown station’s biggest problems.

“For instance last week, in a 10-minute span, we had six calls in a row – in 10 minutes,” Chambers said. “We have two ambulances, and these are all medical calls. So, there’s no way we could meet the demand.”