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A mannequin at the City of Columbia Fire Department headquarters on Laurel Street. Daniel Hare/File

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A mannequin at the City of Columbia Fire Department headquarters on Laurel Street. Daniel Hare/File

COLUMBIA — Despite a staffing shortage exacerbated by Columbia firefighters calling out sick that led to three engines being taken out of service and 13 others running understaffed on Aug. 5, the fire department is not considering changes in its leave policy.

Fire Chief Aubrey Jenkins said a change in policy is unnecessary because sick leave is not the only contributing factor. The department also has a number of unfilled positions and employees out on other types of leave, he said. Firefighters calling out sick was a tipping point.

"It's not just sick time," Jenkins said. "It's just all the permission leave that people have. And also, due to the fact that we need bodies. We need to get people in the department."

The department had enough people to cover 23 absences Aug. 5., but 34 people were out. Six of those were on sick leave; the other 28 were out for vacation time, military leave, worker's compensation, family and medical leave, COVID-19 or a training class.

It was a high number of absences, Jenkins said, but in most cases, they were unavoidable.

"I do understand your concern. I share your concern," Jenkins said. "But we just have to manage that risk right now until we can get through this."

The Columbia Firefighters Association posted about the shortage on Facebook, saying "the residents and guests of the City of Columbia and Richland County are at a disservice" because of the engines not running.

Mayor Daniel Rickenmann isn't pushing for any policy changes but would entertain the idea if the association came forward with a proposal, according to his office.

"We've been talking for months about how we are open to new ideas, and if you have them, come have a seat at the table," Rickenmann said in a statement. "Choosing to post on social media instead of having a dialogue is just creating problems instead of working to solve them."

While the fire department does sometimes put engines out of service, Jenkins said he makes sure every station has at least one truck with a ladder running at all times. Staffing shortages also mean some crews have to run with three firefighters instead of four.

The International Association of Fire Fighters recommends each truck have an average of four firefighters for most emergencies, though it says that number can be reduced in lower-risk situations.

Jenkins said he wants to do everything he can to make sure firefighters are safe, including sending fully staffed trucks, but he does not think having three-person teams creates a significant danger.

"While we do have challenges, staffing challenges, I don't want anyone to think we're not going to step up to the plate," Jenkins said. 

Even when a significant number of people call out of work, like the six on Aug. 5, Jenkins said he trusts that they have a legitimate reason and isn't going to question them on it. He added that COVID-19 has been a contributing factor to firefighters taking more sick days as well.

"My thing is this: If a firefighter is sick, we don't want them to come to work," Jenkins said. 

The city's sick-leave policy does not require employees to submit a doctor's note, though some departments can make that a requirement. The city manager expects "sick and annual leave are managed appropriately to maintain the highest level of service delivery," according to an email from city staff.

The fire department totaled 4,000 hours of sick leave in June, which is in line with its average for the past year, according to data provided by the mayor's office. Its annual leave amounted to 6,100 hours, which is slightly higher than the past year's average of about 6,000 per month.

Jenkins said the solution to the shortage would be to hire more people. Of 454 positions in the department, 54 remain unfilled, he said. That means the department is 88 percent staffed, without accounting for those on long-term leave.

Next week, Jenkins said, the department plans to add 11 people, with seven more following in the weeks after that. By January, Jenkins said he hopes to be training a full class of 30 people, which would leave only six positions left unfilled.

Finding enough people to hire is a problem many fire departments are facing, Jenkins said. The starting salary for the Columbia Fire Department ranges from $33,669.37 to $35,942.05, depending on education level, and does not include mandatory overtime amounts. Jenkins said he and city officials have discussed increasing the starting salaries to make them more competitive.

"It's just that we're trying to weather the storm, too," Jenkins said. "And we're still going to try and do the best we can, we're still going to try to recruit people, bring in bodies, encourage people to apply for the fire department."

Click here for more news from Columbia, S.C.

Reach Skylar Laird at (843) 830-1526. Follow her on Twitter @sky_latte_.

Skylar Laird covers Columbia and Richland County for The Post and Courier. She is originally from Missouri.

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