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Gov. Josh Shapiro visits the Bethlehem Fire Department on Friday, April 18, 2025, in Bethlehem. Shapiro discussed his administration\u2019s commitment to investing in and supporting Pennsylvania\u2019s first responders and firefighters, including a new, $30 million grant program to help fire companies purchase life-saving equipment, recruit and retain firefighters, and meet their unique needs. (April Gamiz\/The Morning Call)<\/p>\n
Lindsay Weber \u2013 The Morning Call<\/p>\n
Bethlehem\u00a0firefighters and their supporters called on\u00a0City Council\u00a0this week to add more firefighters,\u00a0following a study that found the city\u2019s level of staffing inadequate.<\/a><\/p>\n The study conducted by the\u00a0International Association of Fire Fighters, which used city data from 2021 through 2024, said the city\u2019s level of staffing is below levels recommended by the\u00a0National Fire Protection Association. The department is budgeted for 104 personnel but should have at least 113 firefighters to adequately protect the growing city from fire dangers, Local 735 union president\u00a0Lou Jimenez\u00a0said.<\/p>\n The city staffs 18 firefighters citywide per shift, below the 30 recommended by the NFPA. Further, Bethlehem\u2019s minimum staffing level for one engine is two firefighters and one officer, below the NFPA\u2019s recommendation of at least three firefighters and one officer on one engine, the report states.<\/p>\n City firefighters also are responding to high-priority incidents within four minutes 80% of the time, below the 90% benchmark set by the NFPA, the report states.<\/p>\n On Tuesday evening, several city firefighters told\u00a0City Council\u00a0members that they risk their lives every day to protect residents, and fear tragedy could strike if the city does not improve its level of staffing. They called on Council members to support their call and introduce budget amendments that would add more firefighters to the city\u2019s payroll.<\/p>\n \u201cWe have less firefighters now than we had 50 years ago,\u201d said\u00a0Robert Imboden, a vice president of\u00a0IAFF Local 735. \u201cThat is going to lead to burnout.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cIf nothing changes it is not a question of whether a preventable tragedy will occur, it\u2019s a question of when,\u201d said\u00a0Rose Jimenez, Lou Jimenez\u2019s wife.<\/p>\n \u201cTo hear these men talk about staff shortages and firehouses that are not properly staffed, it is very disappointing and as a father and a resident, I feel cheated to be honest,\u201d said\u00a0Anthony Castillo, a\u00a0Bethlehem\u00a0resident.<\/p>\n City Council\u00a0member\u00a0Grace Crampsie Smith\u00a0vowed to introduce an amendment to the city\u2019s 2026 budget which would add four more firefighters to the department.<\/p>\n Bethlehem\u00a0Mayor\u00a0J. William Reynolds\u00a0was absent from Tuesday\u2019s meeting. City business administrator\u00a0Eric Evans\u00a0said the city is conducting its own study into the fire department\u2019s staffing and efficiency levels, and expects to present the results next summer. He cautioned\u00a0City Council\u00a0members against using a one-time source of revenue to cover the cost of hiring four new firefighters, which he estimated would cost the city around $500,000 next year if Council moves forward with Crampsie Smith\u2019s amendment.<\/p>\n Bethlehem City Council\u00a0will meet\u00a06 p.m. Thursday\u00a0for a budget hearing on the city\u2019s public safety budget. Local IAFF 735 has urged the public to show up to Thursday\u2019s meeting and demand adequate staffing. The city will hold a meeting to vote on budget amendments\u00a0Dec. 4\u00a0and hold a final vote on the 2026 budget\u00a0Dec. 16, according to\u00a0City Council\u00a0President\u00a0Michael Colon.<\/p>\n Reporter\u00a0Lindsay Weber\u00a0can be reached at\u00a0Liweber@mcall.com<\/a>.<\/p>\n \u00a92025 The Morning Call. Visit\u00a0mcall.com<\/a>. Distributed by\u00a0Tribune Content Agency, LLC.<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Gov. Josh Shapiro visits the Bethlehem Fire Department on Friday, April 18, 2025, in Bethlehem. Shapiro discussed his…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":39764,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[14],"tags":[153,155,154,20734,28],"class_list":["post-39763","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-bethlehem","tag-bethlehem","tag-bethlehem-headlines","tag-bethlehem-news","tag-headlines","tag-pennsylvania"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/39763","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=39763"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/39763\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/39764"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=39763"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=39763"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=39763"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}