Jamey Cross
北卡罗来纳州威尔明顿的星际新闻
(MCT)
1月25日在过去的一年中,人员短缺made it increasingly common to see firefighters and emergency medical services workers log more than 100 hours in overtime each month.
Pender County EMS和Fire的人力资源总监Gary Poirier说，有些人偶尔会在100小时工作。
“It’s really causing a strain,” he said. “You can do that day in and day out for only so long.”
在某些地区的消防和救援机构（出于19日和与无关相关的原因），某些地区的消防和救援机构的空缺数量高于正常的空缺，这使工作人员强调和劳累过度，招聘事实证明是具有挑战性的。
Poirier说，直到大约一年前，该部门还享有几乎充分的就业机会，但是该县的消防和紧急医疗服务人员的配备是“现在是一个真正的问题”。
消防部门目前有14个未填补的职位。他有大约84岁的工作人员说：“这是一个很大的一部分。”EMS处于8个职位，只有48名员工。
“It hurts,” he said. “That’s a big hit.”
为了补偿，Poirier说，一些急救人员一次工作超过24小时，许多人正在登录加班以填补轮班。
“They’re just beat,” Poirier said. “It wears on them and their families and everyone they’re associated with.”
威尔明顿消防局的临时消防局长史蒂夫·梅森（Steve Mason）表示，这是该地区和州消防部门的一种趋势。
梅森说，威尔明顿消防局目前有10个消防员空缺 - 该部门在过去几年中已经适应了这一损失。梅森说，近年来，该部门的流动率始终如一，员工退休，留下公共安全，或者随着不伦瑞克省和彭德县的增长，在周边地区寻求更多的钱和促销机会。
梅森说：“我们很少能达到满负荷或满足的人员配备，因此这只是我们很早就面临的挑战。”
该部门有226个职位，有190个是消防员职位。
While the department is used to working with a few unfilled positions, Mason said the COVID-19 pandemic has exacerbated the strain on staff as they work to balance existing vacancies with short-term COVID-19-related absences.
该部门的消防员招募学院于11月毕业了20名新兵，并于本月开放申请。梅森说，该部门希望在六个月的学院之后聘请16至20名新兵，这将解决当前的职位空缺，并希望在此期间发生。
新汉诺威县消防和救援队的营负责人詹妮弗·史密斯（Jennifer Smith）表示，该部门目前有四个消防员空缺。每天约有36名紧急响应人员工作，在该部门的三个每日班次中，这四个空缺都很明显。
她说：“这是有影响力的，但尚未产生负面影响。”
史密斯说，虽然该空缺数量比平常高一些，但工作人员认为“目光”，有四个学徒将在2月底填补这些职位。
While some agencies are struggling to fill vacant positions, Leland Fire Rescue is growing its force to keep up with the growth of the town.
According to Fire Chief Chris Langlois, Leland Fire Rescue is currently fully staffed. In its fiscal year 2021-22 budget, the town funded an additional three firefighter positions, and Langlois said those new hires are set to begin next month.
With the addition of those three positions, the department’s staff will total 48 full-time positions.
他说：“利兰德镇和整个地区都在蓬勃发展，以至于我们正努力跟上这一增长。”
Recruitment and retention have proven to be more difficult in recent years as well, Poirier said. The department recently hired its newest fire chief and, in years past, would have expected to see around 300 applicants for the job. The listing yielded less than 100, he said.
他说：“招聘不是过去的样子。”
While more and more staff leave public safety to retire or seek more regular hours in the corporate world or private business, Poirier said he’s also seeing fewer young people take part in training academies to fill the void.
In addition to opening the recruit academy, Mason said the department is working to address turnover and retention by increasing loyalty and pride in the department so newly graduated recruits will be less likely to want to go elsewhere.
兰格里斯（Langlois）招募新的消防员时说，他寻找具有最适合该部门的性格和价值观的候选人，希望培养一种文化，从而导致更高的保留率和更少的营业额。
“We can always teach them or add to their skills… but we try to find those people that fit our culture and bring them on,” he said.
史密斯说，新汉诺威县消防救援队本月还开设了消防员招募，希望建立储备金，以便在未来空缺时准备好了。
In an effort to excite young firefighters, Poirier said the department has enhanced its training program and opened a new training facility. They’re also working with local colleges for recruitment opportunities.
他说：“我们现在需要早点抓住它们。”
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