N. FULTON COUNTY, Ga — The city of Roswell will spend millions over the next few years to hire new full-time firefighters. The city approved a new budget to overhaul the current entirely part-time department.
Mayor Kurt Wilson said firefighters get stretched thin and risks public safety in the city of nearly 100,000 people. “When I learned about this a couple years ago as a resident, I didn’t believe it,” he said.
Roswell will start by adding 21 new fire captains this fall, then faze in hiring a total of 138 positions over the next five years at an additional cost of $5.2 million. The mayor says that is worth it to protect the public. “It is the first, right, obligation of elected leadership in doing right thing by its own residents,” Wilson said.
“The problem with the part-time model is the ebb and flow of staffing,” said Roswell Fire Chief Joe Pennino. Currently the city employs all but 21 command and administrative staff as part time firefighters. Most work for other fire departments in metro Atlanta and come to Roswell, usually after working full time, 24 hour shifts in another city.
That became an issue during the COVID-19 pandemic and could be a crisis if ever faced with a regional crisis, national security event or natural disaster. “A lot of those firefighters are sworn to protect their primary city, so they’re called back to their primary department, which really leaves a void in the city of Roswell,” said Pennino.
The move to full-time firefighters will also help with response times, where a recent analysis found coverage gaps where it took longer than the national benchmark of four minutes to respond to a call. The audit by the Center for Public Safety Management also found staffing shortages on most shifts, which were unable to meet the ideal full shift capacity of 35 firefighters more than 60% of the time in 2021. It also showed the city as below the minimum of 28 firefighters per shift 10% of the time.
But Pennino says they will soon be able to staff shifts fully, based on the needs and protection of the community, rather than on the availability of part-time firefighters. “Obviously with public safety it’s important that we have people ready to serve, ready to protect the citizen 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.”