North Raleigh Today

A Facebook post criticizing the state of the Raleigh Fire Department's truck maintenance due to staff shortages went viral and prompted responses about the situation.  

“This is not uncommon in the American Fire Service, out-of-service units,” Raleigh Fire Department Chief Herbert Griffin said in a recent news report. “This is something we deal with everyday because there is mandatory training and mandatory physicals that have to be done every day." 

Griffin said it’s his responsibility to make sure firefighters can respond appropriately to calls, and the post, which hinted that the fire department couldn’t handle that job, was an overstatement.

“That’s inaccuracy,” he said. “On Saturday, we roughly responded to 150 plus calls and only two structure fires. When things to this magnitude happen, we modify the dispatch. So, you got an extra engine and an extra ladder placed on every structure fire call within the city. No calls went unanswered on Saturday.”

Raleigh Mayor Mary Ann Baldwin also responded to the post.

“I did see the Facebook post on Saturday and checked in with our team,” Baldwin said. “This is what I know from the chief. I have been told that the information posted is not accurate and have been assured that no call will go unanswered in our community.”

The mayor said staffing shortages, to the extent that they existed, were short-lived.