Petersburg police, fire face staffing crisis with 5 open positions

Police Chief James Kerr told the Public Safety Advisory Board on Thursday the department has three dispatcher vacancies and two patrol officer openings.

"Hopefully the union can work something out with the borough and increase some wages and get some longevity steps worked in so we can better fill and serve, fill the positions and serve the community."

Fire and EMS Director Aaron Hankins reported the department's 79-member roster includes only three paid staff. The fire division has 28 volunteers; EMS has 33. Search and Rescue has 37 members.

But those rosters do not reflect actual response capacity. Hankins said volunteers respond at a fraction of their total numbers.

As volunteers, they are never like 100% ready, always able to respond. A good rule of thumb would be a third of that amount to, you know, at best a half at any one time. So if you cut those numbers in half, it would be 14 members of the fire department, for fire, about 16 to 18 members in EMS.

The staffing shortages come as the borough prepares to expand public safety services. Hankins said the borough is working on a new service area for Thomas Bay that would include fire, EMS, and police coverage.

"They are currently working on the adaptation of a new service area that is Thomas Bay," Hankins said. "In that there's a proposal to include fire, EMS, and police services to that area, specifically the Thomas Bay area."

Kerr said expanding services without adequate staffing would strain already limited resources.