The City of Clearwater makes a decision about what to do with the city’s EMS Department after receiving a warning from the state about the number of volunteers.
The city says volunteers are hard to come by and it’s adding four paid positions to keep EMS services in the city and meet state regulations. City officials say although there’s an increased cost, this is a step in the right direction.
Marvin Schauf was Clearwater’s fire chief for 53 years. He retired in 2017, but his son and grandson are first responders in town. Schauf says volunteer departments are getting harder to manage as the state has added several regulations throughout the years.
“Nobody wants to do it anymore,” Schauf says. “All the training they have to go through, it just takes them away from their regular jobs. They get burnt out on it.”
(Read more: KWCH News)