The New Orleans Fire Department says not enough fire fighters are getting the proper training to operate fire trucks. New Orleans Fire Fighters Association President Aaron Mischler told WWL First News that it's causing problems.
"What's going on right now is we have a shortage of qualified applicants to do specialized jobs on the department such as driving the trucks, what we call operators," Mischler explained.
"We used to have a list, we call a 'backfill list,' of people who were qualified, who got the specialized qualifications and certifications to operate the units, and that backfill list has dwindled down to very few names now," Mischler told WWL's Tommy Tucker.
Mischler says they can't put just anyone at the wheel of those engines, but sometimes, the department must ask fire fighters who lack the proper qualifications to volunteer to do just that, because the city can't afford the overtime to bring in qualified operators.
"The union's stance is we want qualified people to do that job," he said. "They would usually hire overtime to do that."
New Orleans Public Safety head Michael Harrison tells NOLA.com that the city plans to hold a training session for truck operators soon.
