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Laredo negotiators identify 50–60 immediate firefighter shortfall; 170–180 needed for full shift expansion
Summary
Union representatives and city negotiators agreed the department is understaffed: 50–60 hires are needed to address current shortfalls and about 170–180 would be required to move to a 24/72 shift model or add an extra D‑shift and fully staff proposed new stations.
LAREDO — Laredo city negotiators and representatives of the Laredo Firefighters Association spent the meeting laying out stark staffing and response-time shortfalls that the union says are constraining emergency services.
Association leaders told city negotiators the department is short at least 50–60 firefighters to meet minimal operational staffing across existing stations. That shortfall, they said, represents understaffing that drives overtime and erodes response capability in many neighborhoods.
David Gonzalez, president of the association, said the 50–60 figure is a baseline "worst‑case" number. He added that fully implementing a separate D‑shift or moving to a 24/72 model — a structure the union and chief say would improve firefighter health and safety — would require 170–180 total firefighters. "If we were to move to 24/72 for health and safety, we're looking at 170 to 180 firefighters," Gonzalez said.
City negotiators and budget staff pressed for clarity on how those totals break down. The group discussed that new stations (four to five were repeatedly raised as priorities) would each need roughly 20–25 staff and that per‑apparatus staffing — typically five per engine to accommodate vacations and training — affects the arithmetic.
Speakers cited response‑time data from a consultant identified only as Stockton, telling negotiators that current response pockets show response times as long as 10–20 minutes under traffic conditions in some parts of the city. "When it's during traffic time, we're not getting there less than 20 minutes," one firefighter said, explaining why new stations are proposed.
Both sides described tradeoffs. City staff explained constrained general‑fund revenues and state property‑tax limits that shape what can be added in a single budget cycle. Association leaders argued that chronic understaffing and repeated delays in building planned stations have worsened service gaps over decades.
The meeting did not produce formal commitments or votes. Negotiators agreed to pursue a mix of near‑term hires to cover immediate shortages and longer‑term planning for additional stations and shift changes. Both sides scheduled follow‑up sessions to translate staffing targets into budget requests and contract articles.
