The promotion of Merle Laci, right, to deputy chief of the La Grande Fire Department was made official in a pinning ceremony on Monday, Aug. 28, 2023, where his wife, Deonne Laci, presented him with his pin. Merle Laci joined LGFD in 2006 as a firefighter and paramedic.

LA GRANDE — For the first time in a long time the La Grande Fire Department is fully staffed.

When Fire Chief Emmitt Cornford retired as the chief in 2016 the fire department was fully staffed with 15 personnel. He cannot speak to staffing levels during his time away from the department — 2016 through 2019 — but when he came out of retirement to again head up the La Grande Fire Department, it was short-staffed and has been so consistently since at least July 2019, he said.

“The current crew did an amazing job … working a lot of extra hours to make sure, I’d like to say, that the public just didn’t realize we were so shorthanded. That meant a lot of overtime hours, a lot of hours away from home, a lot of sleepless nights,” Cornford said.

City Manager Robert Strope supported Cornford’s request for an additional three shift positions in the city’s 2023-204 budget, which was also supported and approved by the budget committee and city council.

The fire department is now staffed with 18 personnel.

Cornford said the increase is beneficial all-around.

The on-duty shifts have been bolstered by an additional firefighter — bringing the number of personnel up to six per shift with a minimum of five. Previously shifts were staffed with five firefighters and a minimum of four.

Having the extra hands is helpful when the department is called out on a fire. Cornford said it allows the crew to fight fires faster, safer and more efficiently.

Challenges and creative solutions

Many factors contributed to the staffing shortage, but a big factor was the Covid-19 pandemic, according to Cornford.

“Covid. Everybody expects to hear Covid, but Covid was an issue. There was a lot of requirements put on firefighters and EMTS and that I think added to the loss of people and the lack of the ability to get people,” the fire chief said.

Hiring has been difficult across the board, Cornford said, but it was especially difficult to hire paramedics. So, LGFD changed its requirement.

Rather than trying to hire paramedics the department now requires that new hires are EMTs and a condition of their hiring is that they train up to paramedic level within the first three years of their employment.

“Our call volume has continued to skyrocket. When we took the ambulance in 2002 — our first year, our call volume was about 1,800 calls. Last year we were at 3,400 plus. So, that’s nearly doubled,” Cornford said.

Around 85% of the calls the department responds to are medical, according to the fire chief. Under the new shift structure, shifts are staffed by one captain and five firefighters — all of whom have undergone emergency medical training. There are nine EMTs including the chief and deputy chief, eight paramedics and three intermediates.

There are also seven part-time EMTs on staff who help provide service. The fire chief added that many of them worked numerous extra hours throughout the staffing shortage.

Help from the city

Earlier this year the La Grande City Council ratified the collective bargaining agreement with the International Association of Fire Fighters Local 924. Over the next three years, the city will move closer to market standards of pay.

The new agreement also changed residency requirements for firefighters. Previously firefighters were required to live within 15 air miles of the city; however, this has been adjusted to 100 travel miles. Since the department operates on a 48/96 shift — where firefighters work for 48 hours then are off for 96 hours — this change opened up the possibility for people to commute from nearby areas like Baker City and Pendleton.

“That helped us pick up a couple of really talented and experienced firefighter paramedics,” Cornford said.

A new title for a familiar face

The department also recently promoted Merle Laci to deputy chief. Laci joined LGFD as a firefighter and paramedic in June 2006. He worked his way up the ranks and around four years ago was promoted to captain of the B shift.

Cornford said that early in his career he had an assistant chief, but the position was never refilled after the assistant chief passed away.

As deputy chief, Laci will be second in command to Cornford. This means he will take on the chief’s duties when Cornford is out of the office, the area or away on vacation. He will assist the crews on fire and take over command if needed.

“We’ve got a great group of guys, so I want to help them as much as possible, along with the community,” Laci said.

The new position is also going to take some of the load off of the department’s captains, according to Cornford. Laci will manage the training and inspections.

“I’m really proud of what we’ve been able to do through the short-staffing, Covid and those challenges, to keep the service level up where it needs to be,” Cornford said. “Those four additional positions are going to do nothing but allow us to do that better. Keep our people safer, keep the citizens safer.”