YAKIMA, Wash.-The City of Yakima is already over budget on firefighter’s overtime. A spokesperson for the city says the 2023 budget for overtime was $650,000.
At the end of June, the city has spent nearly $1.3 million on overtime. The first action to alleviate the budget? Putting Station 94’s crew out of service for two hours every day.
From 12 p.m. to 2 p.m. through this fall, Engine 94 will be unable to respond to calls that don’t come from the Yakima Air Terminal, where the station is located.
That’s because of the FAA requirement to have designated Aircraft Rescue and Firefighting (ARFF) units to respond to incoming and outgoing flights. Fire apparatus is also required to be manned by three firefighters.
The two hours the engine is out of service allows the station’s fourth firefighter to get off shift, which pushes the surrounding fire stations to pick up the slack on incoming calls.
“We have other stations that will respond, the closest apparatus to any calls that might occur in that area, that station’s response area during that time frame,” said Yakima Fire Department’s Chief Aaron Markham.
The surge in overtime comes from a mix of firefighters on leave for medical or personal reasons. Bringing in another firefighter to make up the difference, cost the budget a pretty penny.
“Anytime there’s any shortage in the seven companies that we run through the city requires us to hire back a firefighter on 24-hours of overtime,” said Chief Markham.
In cutting the two hours from Engine 94, the City estimates $42,000 in savings every month from the overtime budget.
Extra manpower to staff multiple stations is already on the way. Markham reports eight recruits recently graduated from the academy and have been put onto the schedule.
The City and Station 94 expects normal staffing to return this fall, which is when YKM plans to add additional flights to its schedule. The additional flights and staffing also falls in line with when City administration plans to discuss the 2024 Fire Department budget.
