Officials announced today that they will temporarily brown out (not staff) Engine 12, located at Station 12 at 644 Hollywood Way. The truck company, Truck 12, which also doubles as the Haz Mat 12 crew, will remain in service.
In a press release issued by the City of Burbank, Burbank Fire Chief Eric Garcia said, “Operationally this is not our optimum deployment, but this reprieve will contribute to the health and wellbeing of our firefighters and their families, which will enable us to continue to provide our community with the exceptional service that they are accustomed to.”
They are currently a shortage of firefighters, with the Burbank Firefighters Union Local 778 union saying on their Facebook page on October 28 after two firefighters transferred to the Anaheim Fire Department that “This marks the 22nd and 23rd firefighters to have voluntarily left Burbank Fire to join another department or retire early due to ongoing working conditions since 2016.”
It was not disclosed in the release how many vacancies there are currently in the department.
The release said the brown-out “will allow BFD to better serve the community by bringing respite to firefighters and their families, and it will routinely be evaluated to ensure BFD is providing the highest level of service to the community. In addition, all fire stations will remain open and staffed for response.”
Engine 12 currently serves the southwest area of Burbank in the Media District, which includes Warner Bros., and is dispatched for calls on the 134 freeway.
They also say that firefighter recruitment is underway, with a fire academy to start in February of 2023.
Thank you for sharing this information. Burbank compensates fire department employees generously with our top earner’s compensation at $411,635.72 (2021 earnings for Fire Battalion Chief John Owings) and dozens of Burbank Fire Department employees being among our top earners in the City.
Perhaps once recruits are aware they can earn so much working here, they will be applying.
Most of the key personnel do not live in the City for personal reasons presumably (pay could not be the issue), so perhaps recruiting from other LA County towns would make good sense for the City.
I have many ideas and welcome the Chief to contact me for assistance with recruitment programs. I managed such projects when I worked for FREEMAN.
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