Polk County Fire Rescue has severe issues!!

The Polk County Fire Rescue firefighters have “Mandatory Overtime” 48-hour shifts.

So is this a health hazard for the firefighters?

What science can tell us is that sleep is important — very important. Your body operates on circadian rhythms, which is a 24-hour cycle of physiological processes.

Going without sleep for too long and interrupting that rhythm leads to physical and cognitive problems. Chronic sleep deprivation increases the risk for hypertension, cancer, ulcers, heart attack, and stroke. Marital issues and divorce rates are higher in those that work 48-hour shifts.

It also impairs attention, makes you more forgetful, makes it harder to concentrate, and impairs problem-solving and reasoning. When at its extremes, impairment from sleep deprivation has been found to be similar to alcohol intoxication.

Science also tells us that sleep deprivation leads to an increased risk of accidents, is related to depression, and is related to obesity given it interrupts the peptides that regulate appetite.

Science also tells us that shift work is generally bad for your health because it interrupts the body’s natural rhythm for sleep and often leads to chronic sleep disturbance.

Other issues are that the PCFR takes a Fire Engine COMPLETELY out of service for 24 to 48 hours. Engines with only 2 personnel instead of 3 personnel, and NO Advanced life support engines without a certified Paramedic on board.

These management policies put the firefighters’ lives in jeopardy and could slow down response times when the firefighters are needed the most.

Examples are from REAL days and are REAL stats of the PCFR

Staffing 7/31/22:

16 – Members working Mandatory Overtime

1 – Engine COMPLETELY out of service

2 – Advanced life support engines without a certified Paramedic on board

Staffing 7/30/22:

19 – Members working Mandatory Overtime

6 – Engines with only 2 personnel instead of 3 personnel

1 – Engine COMPLETELY out of service

4 – Advanced life support engines without a state certified Paramedic on board

Staffing 7/29/2022:

26 – Members working Mandatory Overtime

5 – Engines with 2 personnel instead of 3 personnel

1 – Engine COMPLETELY out of service

Staffing 7/28/2022:

17 – Members working Mandatory Overtime

1 – Engine staffed with 2 personnel instead of the required 3 personnel

The Lakeland Gazette asked four questions and we received the following answers from Mianne Nelson Director of Communications at Polk County Board of County Commissioners

1) What is Polk County Fire Rescue to recruit and retain employees?

Polk County Fire Rescue now employs a fulltime person whose responsibility is recruiting new employees. In addition to traditional job board postings, both locally and nationwide, the recruited attends and hosts job fairs, speaks at schools, and works with our communications team to aggressively market our open positions.

Additionally, PCFR recently initiated a bonus program to hire experienced paramedics, and another that offers new hires stipends for their education to become paramedics for PCFR.

2) Why have you lost so many employees?

Retaining first responders is not unique to Polk County; this is a nationwide challenge. Employees retire, and there are not enough younger people coming into the field to replace them. Other employees leave for higher paying positions in other departments, or they live out-of-county and resign to work closer to home and family.

3) If firefighters work 48-hour shifts don’t have a negative outcome for the firefighters and for the department in general?

I am assuming from your question that you are asking about overtime for our employees.

PCFR has no overlapping resources. If an employee calls in sick or takes a vacation, that position must be filled by an overtime person(s) whether it be a volunteer or mandatory overtime in order to provide a level of service that our residents expect.

While we do have to fill vacant positions and assignments when employees are on a leave of absence with overtime, it is not the strategy that Polk County prefers. All PCFR employees are given sufficient latitude, per Section 4 of the Collective Bargaining Agreement, to schedule or choose when they will be available for mandatory overtime. Of all the mandatory overtime hours necessary, which is about 5 percent of the total hours worked by our employees, most overtime was voluntary…in other words, these were employees who chose to work overtime.

4) Sending a Fire truck with two or browning out a fire truck for a shift doesn’t this have a negative outcome for the firefighters and for the department in general?

For many years, it was standard operating procedure to send apparatus with only two people on a call. The practice of using three firefighter/emergency medical staff per call was implemented in Polk County in 2019. While not ideal, a two-person call while gets life-saving support to our residents when they need us.

Taxpayers pay for these services, Taxpayers should be upset about this, so call your County Commissioners today.

https://www.polk-county.net/boards-and-committees/commissioners