According to the results of a survey of International Association of Fire Chiefs members, budget and staffing shortfalls are the top problems facing fire chiefs this year, with more than 68% of responding fire officials citing budget and 58% citing staffing at the top of their list of problems.

“Budget cuts are a cancer eating us up from within,” said a fire official from a combination department. “We cannot continue on this downslide for many more years … the fire service is dying and despite extensive measures to reduce costs, overtime, etc., … we are dying.”

The IAFC sent the survey electronically to 7,377 members on Jan. 9. The brief survey asked fire chiefs what kind of department they led and what problems they expected to face in 2004, as well as how the IAFC could help. Results of the report issued Feb. 24 were based on 863 responses.

Finding enough staff, whether paid or volunteer, and keeping them on board and trained were problems faced by fire departments across the board, the report said. Many departments are experiencing layoffs due to fiscal cutbacks while struggling to respond to increased call volume, community growth and new responsibilities for homeland security.

“Responding to WMD threats, and specifically, actual acts of terrorism, will be a significant challenge in '04 and beyond,” said one IAFC member. “While it is unreasonable to expect anyone to have enough staff for such an event, additional staff with a technical level of skill sets to share … would be very valuable.”

Increasing demand for fire department services was the third most common problem cited by members (32%), followed by training needs (15%), equipment needs (10%), and personnel/labor relations issues (7%).

See the full results at www.iafc.org/downloads/challenges_survey.pdf.