'Just rough on us': Spokane Fire Department hiring more firefighters to meet demand

Firefighters and paramedics of the Spokane Fire Department work long hours, and even days at a time. With more overtime than ever, it's affecting safety in Spokane.

Lt. David Swoboda is a paramedic with the Spokane Fire Department. One of his worst days on the job was this past summer.

"We had a really busy night," he said. "We had six calls during the night and then I got mandatoried to work the next day. This was just after I completed a 48 hour shift, so I was mandatoried into a 72 hour shift, all of them at busy stations."

As a dad of three young kids, a 72 hour shift is draining.

"I'm so tired from being up all night that I don't have the energy to give it to my kids," Lt. Swoboda said. "My wife is tired because now she's been stuck with the kids for 72 hours. My kids were all at the time were all 3 and under so that's exhausting for anybody, and then to have your partner not be able to help, it was just rough on us as a whole family."

A combination of a number of reasons, including the pandemic, retirements, illnesses, and people leaving have made the situation worse.

"If when we go to the list to fill those, nobody's available, nobody takes it, then we have to mandatory somebody and make someone stay over," said Spokane Fire Chief Brian Schaeffer.

The Spokane Fire Department's goal is to hire 30 more firefighters by the beginning of next year.

"It takes a toll, and we want to reduce those errors. We want to do the right things by the employees and keep everybody safe," Chief Schaeffer said.