San Luis Obispo County Fire is looking to add an additional crew member on its engines across the county, increasing the number to three people per engine as opposed to two.
"Three people, though, allows us to become task oriented. It increases our effectiveness," said SLO County Fire Battalion Chief Nate Hamm.
He has been with CAL FIRE for 19 years— 16 of which have been in San Luis Obispo County, working with SLO County Fire.
"The county has been contracted with CAL FIRE for fire protection and emergency medical services since 1930. We are one of the longest standing county contracts with the state for a fire service and nursing medical services," said Hamm.
Now, the county fire department is working to add an extra person to each of their fire engines across the county.
"We are below that right now just because of our own staffing model," Hamm said.
As it stands currently, only one engine at Station 70 in Nipomo is staffed with three personnel. The other 11 engines in service across the county only have two personnel.
That means teams are limited to defensive or exterior operations until more help arrives.
"When we're staffed with just two people on one fire engine, we have to wait for the next fire engine to get there, which would be 15 or 20 minutes unless we have a known rescue," said Hamm.
Funding and training are the two main issues the county fire department is running into in their effort to restaff.
Back in February of this year, SLO County Fire presented its request for more staffing to the board of supervisors.
District 3 supervisor Dawn Ortiz-Legg responded to the request at that meeting. She stated that it was something the board wants to get done, but that there are some financial factors to think about, adding that "it's not as easy as signing a check."
Hamm says it will likely be a few years before the department is able to fully staff all of the county's engines.
