05/30/2025
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
May 30, 2025
High Point Firefighters Sound the Alarm on Critical Staffing Shortages
High Point, NC — This morning, due to dangerously low staffing levels, Engine Company 13 was taken out of service. It was tentatively scheduled to reopen by 17:00 this evening. Rescue Company 1, however, remains out of service for the entire day, also due to insufficient staffing. Furthermore, the fire department’s Rural Water Tanker and Air Resource Unit are also projected to be taken offline by 17:00, again because of a lack of available personnel.
Earlier today, Engine Company 7 and Truck Company 7 were out of service while engaged in standpipe Automatic Aid training with the Pinecroft-Sedgefield Fire Department. Additionally, a confined-space certification course was being conducted at the training center for on-duty personnel. Engine Company 9 was also scheduled to participate in essential Automatic Aid Live-Fire training alongside the Pinecroft-Sedgefield Fire Department, which has now been abruptly canceled.
After learning that the media had inquired about today’s staffing deficiencies, Local 673 was informed that Fire Chief Brian Evans, currently out of the office, had reacted by ordering the Deputy Chief of Operations to suspend all current and scheduled training. Firefighters who were actively training were pulled mid-course and ordered back to their stations. This sudden decision not only undermines our firefighters’ ability to develop critical skills but also directly compromises public safety. Since the media reported to Station 13, where there were no apparatus in service, the personnel were removed from Truck Company 7, who returned to service when they were removed from training, and placed on Engine Company 13, leaving the City without one of its four ladder trucks (the city has 14 engine companies and only four ladder/truck companies).
Our union, Local 673, has repeatedly called on the City Manager and City Council to address chronic understaffing. Those pleas have been ignored.
On May 8, 2025, during a Prosperity, Livability, and Safety Committee meeting, Chief Evans was asked directly if the department faced any staffing issues. He responded, “No, sir. We are currently plus 3, so we don’t have any vacancies at this time.” However, his claim included 23 recruits who are still in entry-level training and not qualified to operate fire apparatus or respond to emergencies. These individuals, while vital to the future of the department, do not count toward our operational staffing needs today.
Meanwhile, more firefighters are seeking employment elsewhere — a direct result of burnout, low morale, and a work culture that fails to support its front-line responders.
Here are the facts:
• The City of High Point Fire Department is consistently understaffed.
• Today, the department had to rehire seven firefighters on overtime — but needed ten.
• There are no new firefighter positions included in the proposed FY 25/26 city budget.
• Fire Department Administration has repeatedly applied for a federal SAFER grant to hire 16 additional firefighters, despite claiming publicly that there is no staffing issue.
Why are our firefighters unwilling to work overtime? Why do we not have enough personnel to accommodate normal sick leave, training, or emergencies? Most importantly, why are we failing to invest in the safety and readiness of the people sworn to protect this city?
The City of High Point Fire Department does not meet NFPA 1710 — the national standard for staffing and deployment of fire service personnel. We do not have enough firefighters on each shift to safely and effectively fulfill our duties. That is a public safety crisis.
Local 673 calls on the High Point City Council to step up, ask the hard questions, and finally take decisive action. The residents of High Point deserve a fire department that is fully staffed, fully trained, and fully prepared to protect them.
Until that happens, your firefighters will continue to speak out — because silence is not an option when lives are at stake.
Contact:
Robert M. Templeton
President, High Point Professional Firefighters Association, Local 673
[email protected]
336-442-5178
