TUCSON, Ariz. (KGUN) — The Tucson Fire Department (TFD) has confirmed that a staffing shortfall forced 10 fire and support vehicles out of service during the Thanksgiving holiday, reducing fire and medical coverage across the city.
A post from the Tucson Fire Fighters Association (TFFA) say the affected units are: Executive Captain 2 (AM); Executive Captain 4 (24‑hour); Paramedic 49 (AM); Rescue 7 (24‑hour); Rescue 8 (24‑hour); Rescue 9 (24‑hour); Rescue 10 (AM); Rescue 14 (AM); Hazmat 1 (24‑hour); and AirPower 22 (24‑hour). It also said 23 firefighters were working overtime.
TFD Assistant Fire Chief Lewis Harris says the department needs about another 40 or so personnel to be fully-staffed and days like Thanksgiving is when they really feel the shortage.
"We just don't have as many people putting in for overtime and everybody's using all the vacations that are available, so there's a finite number of vacations that are available each and every day," Harris said. "So, on holidays, obviously people are going to use all the vacations and then you're also not going to have a lot of people putting in for overtime to fill in the gaps."
The majority of the vehicles down for the day are the two-person trucks that mainly run medical calls.
“So, you know, today the big trucks are going to be running more. Those are the four-person trucks, the engines and the ladders. They are all fully staffed," Harris said.
Harris says they don’t want to discourage anybody from calling 911. If you need help, call.
“So, will there be some slower response times? Very likely there will be, but will we get to the call? Absolutely," Harris reassured.
He says the response times will depend on how busy the day is.
“Service delivery is not gonna be affected to a significant degree. We, again, are very strategic about how we close these trucks down, so we know what we're doing and we'll really limit the negative effect to the community," Harris said.
He says holidays are usually one-off days where they have to shut down vehicles.
"You know, Thanksgiving, Christmas, sometimes New Year's Eve, New Year's Day, that's usually not even as bad. It's a couple of days that are really, really rough for us," Harris continued. "It's really hard to get people to come in, and obviously people want to be off with their families just like everybody else."
As far as getting more firefighters on the team, that’s already in the works.
“We have a current class in that's got 38 people in it, so we've been running class after class after class. Recruiting numbers are doing better than they were during COVID," Harris added.
He says the recruits are in class for 24 weeks, so they're not operational until they’re out of the academy, which is in about six months.
Related: Tucson Fire Department’s tips for safe cooking on Thanksgiving
Firefighters warned the outages increase the workload on remaining units and lower unit availability for emergencies. Without Hazmat 1 and AirPower 22, the department said it will rely on neighboring departments for hazmat response, air support and scene lighting — steps that could delay specialized operations. The post also noted that the absence of executive captains can slow safety-officer responses during active fires.
The message urged extra caution on Thanksgiving, historically the leading day for home cooking fires, and reminded residents that Tucson averages more than one structure fire each day.
Tucson Fire also thanked members for their service and asking the public for understanding and vigilance as crews manage the reduced staffing.
