Presidential candidates should present plans for addressing the understaffing and underfunding of the nation’s firefighting force, firefighters and their supporters said yesterday at a protest outside the Ministry of the Interior.
Carrying buckets bearing the insignias of the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) and Democratic Progressive Party, activists from the National Association for Firefighters’ Rights and labor rights groups poured red paint onto a firefighter, who then smeared the paint onto the photographs of the faces of the two parties’ presidential candidates.
Both candidates have failed to present platforms on reforming the nation’s firefighting force, which has seen increased deaths in recent years due to underfunding and understaffing, they said.
Photo: Wang Yi-sung, Taipei Times
“We do not want to be called ‘firefighting heroes’ anymore, because in reality we are extremely vulnerable,” association vice president Yu Tzung-han (余宗翰) said, adding that almost half of the 116 firefighter deaths since 1952 have occurred in the past 16 years.
“On average, every firefighter works between 360 and 480 hours per month, and long working hours means workers who are fatigued on duty and who could run into danger any moment,” he said.
A lack of manpower makes it impossible to designate “safety officers” to keep tabs on other firefighter’s oxygen levels and conditions after they enter a conflagration, he said.
Yu said he sleeps an average of only four hours per night when on duty, which is typically fragmented into one and two hour intervals because of interruptions.
Firefighters are required to stand by on call for 48 hours before being allowed a single day off.
Association secretary-general Cheng Ya-ling(鄭雅菱) said firefighters are overworked because of the government’s unwillingness to hire more staff.
Only an estimated 13,018 firefighters are employed nationally, compared with the 28,978 the National Fire Agency estimates is necessary to allow firefighters to rotate daily, she said.
National Fire Agency Director-General Ye Chi-tang (葉吉堂) said that there would be no manpower shortage after the government completes plans to hire an additional 4,000 firefighters over the next three years.
He added that beds are provided at stations to allow firefighters to sleep when on call, allowing them to get adequate rest.
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