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Firefighters and residents urge Garland committee to change schedules, cite burnout, recruitment and mental-health data

Garland Fire & EMS Stakeholder Committee · November 12, 2025
AI-Generated Content: All content on this page was generated by AI to highlight key points from the meeting. For complete details and context, we recommend watching the full video. so we can fix them.

Summary

During public comment, current and former Garland firefighters urged a schedule change to reduce burnout and improve retention; a captain cited survey data showing suicidal thoughts among departmental respondents and urged moving toward a 42-hour (24/72) week for recovery and family time.

Several current and former Garland firefighters addressed the Fire & EMS Stakeholder Committee during the public comment period, urging changes in staffing and schedule to address heavy call volumes, recruitment challenges and mounting mental-health concerns.

Tommy Little, who said he has 33 years with Garland’s fire service, described a sharp rise in calls over his career: "We used to make 12,000 runs a year. Take us to today ... we make 30 to 32,000 runs a year," he said, and…

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