ATLANTA — The Atlanta City Council has given the green light to a plan that could put more firefighters on city fire trucks.
Channel 2’s Audrey Washington reported live from city hall that public comment was overwhelming in favor of the measure
“They keep showing up for this city, and that’s what makes Atlanta strong.” resident Ashley Glass said.
The move follows warnings from the firefighters union about understaffed fire stations and potential risks in certain parts of the city.
Monday, the Atlanta City Council took up the issue to possibly to require four person staffing on each fire apparatus.
By late Monday afternoon, the resolution passed unanimously.
Councilmember Michael Julian Bond, the resolution author, said, “We want to make sure we are operating at optimal level and that we are giving the chief and everyone at AFRD everything that they need.”
The union has identified areas such as Cleveland Avenue, Berkeley Park and Moores Mill as being particularly vulnerable due to a lack of resources.
Marcus Mackey says the Cleveland Avenue area needs more firefighters: “I mean, it’s concerning. It’s alarming.”
But at a previous meeting, Atlanta Fire Rescue Chief Rod Smith pushed back.
He told the committee the union’s effort is political and stressed that all fire trucks are adequately staffed.
“We are about 85% staffed, which leaves us to 100 to 105 vacancies, and we are hiring,” Smith said.
Bond estimates the cost of adding more firefighters to trucks at around $7 million and anticipates the changes will be seen over the next 18 months to two years.
Bond said there will be a focus on the resources that the fire department has right now to put four firefighters on a truck.
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