Next year’s budget offers no solution to one of the Fairfax County Fire and Rescue Department’s most glaring gaps in staffing: the lack of a fourth person on trucks that carry extendable ladders to fires.

It’s a deficiency that union officials have long argued slows operations and puts firefighters at risk. The department now puts three firefighters on each of its 14 ladder trucks, which leaves a single person carrying and setting up a heavy and awkward ladder against a burning house.

John Niemiec, president of Fairfax County Professional Fire Fighters and Paramedics, said County Executive Anthony Griffin promised fire officials funding for at least three new firefighters in the budget last fall. With funding from a matching federal grant, it would have allowed 18 new positions.

But that was before the extent of the economic slowdown became clear. Revenue growth is expected to be essentially flat, or worse, next fiscal year, squeezing agencies countywide.

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Griffin’s budget presentation in February offers no such expansion.

“This is also about the ability to carry out the necessary functions on a ladder truck. Right now with having three on there, we’re not always able to do that,” Niemiec said. “Either we’re going to have certain functions that are going to be delayed, or we’re going to have to pull from other resources.”

County budget documents also cite a need for the new staffing.

“Fairfax County is the only jurisdiction in excess of one million residents without a minimum of four persons per ladder truck,” said one budget presentation. “The county’s physical features, building/structure make-up and demographic characteristics make this a safety issues and thus a high priority.”

wflook@dcexaminer.com