Current Staffing Model at Bemidji Fire Station Presents Challenges for Firefighters

A few weeks ago, Bemidji Fire Chief Justin Sherwood approached the Bemidji City Council about what he feels are critical staffing needs for the Bemidji Fire Department. Sherwood says the current staffing model at the fire station has remained unchanged since 2004, which has led to operational strain, firefighter fatigue, and can potentially limit the services they can provide to the city.

“Year to date, our members have gone out on calls 64 times with two or less firefighters,” Sherwood said.

The Bemidji Fire Department operates with nine career firefighters and 48 paid on-call firefighters across four fire stations throughout the city. Despite national standards recommending at least four firefighters per response, the Bemidji Fire Department can only guarantee one career firefighter on the primary response engine.

“We’ve been operating at this ‘good enough is good enough’ for far too long, and the main thing in public safety is to provide a high level of service, but how can you do that when no one’s taking care of you?” asked Sherwood. “How do we accomplish that?”

The Bemidji Fire Department has seen consistent growth in the amount of calls they respond to each year. That number rose from 950 in 2020 to close to 1,400 in 2024, and that was all without seeing an increase in staffing at the fire station.

“When you’re going on these calls by yourself and you’re having to process it by yourself, it takes a toll,” Sherwood added. “I’ve been serving the city since 2002. I’ve actively served this community and seen a lot of things, a lot of bad, and after a while you become consumed with the negative. The mental toll is very, very real, and it eats at you a little bit over time. And if you don’t have the resources to support you there, you’re going to go down a dark hole.”

The Bemidji City Council expressed support for having Sherwood apply for a Staffing For Adequate Fire and Emergency Response (SAFER) grant, but a freeze on federal funding has put a question mark on that for now. Still, there seems to be a consensus to help with the staffing issues at the fire station.

“We seem to have quite a bit of support for moving forward with staffing in some form or fashion in, next year,” says Sherwood, “I was very, very excited for that because that’s not what I was there looking for, but that’s what we can always hope, that plan A is what we’re going to go with, but we always have a backup plan. And in all things we do, especially in my job, that’s where we have to go. And so I was very appreciative of those members who voiced approval of that.”

Also, on May 1st, Sherwood will be receiving the inaugural NTC IMPACT Award for his role as Bemidji Fire Chief since 2021 and his over 20-year career in fire services.