Tri-Cities has seen an explosion of growth over the last decade and more people means more work for fire departments.
“We're all in the same crunch,” stated Pasco Fire Department Assistant Chief Dave Hare.
Here's a look at the numbers. According to the U.S. Census Bureau, in 2010 Kennewick’s population numbered 73,917, Pasco had 59,781 and Richland had 48,058.
In 2016 census estimates increased those numbers to 80,454 for Kennewick, Pasco with 70,579 and 54,989 for Richland.
Hare says, "We were caught. Honestly we were caught when we saw that explosive growth about five years ago.