Michigan firefighters union says every fire house in the state is understaffed

Running toward a burning building when every instinct tells you to run away, is one reason firefighters are an elite group.

Fire response and evacuations

But the Michigan Professional Fire Fighters Union says every fire house in the state is understaffed.

The union says some of the hardest-hit fire departments in Metro Detroit include Harper Woods, Ferndale and Mount Clemens.

For years, training academies struggled to enroll new cadets — but things may be changing.

“You don’t expect it to be that hot even just standing out here in the sun in our bunker gear, but it’s something that you could kind of work past,” said Alex Smas, a cadet at the Macomb Fire Training Institute.

“You’ve got to get used to being uncomfortable,” This year Macomb County Community College received 380 applications for 45 spots.

A decade ago they could barely filled 20 spots. “Since the economic downturn in 2010, there’s just been a dramatic shortage of firefighters.

And as we were rebounding from that, COVID hit,” said Micheal Lopez, director of the Public Service Institute at Macomb County Community College.