The village had just one firefighter/emergency medical technician on duty to cover the entire community on Labor Day. It reflects a staffing problem that has been long in the making. Staffing is such a problem that some shifts were covered by only two firefighters in July, Fire Chief Martin Freibergs reported to the fire and police commission. The end of August had the potential to be single-person coverage due to the volunteer shift coverage currently used, he reported on Aug. 21, according to preliminary minutes of the meeting. That was 13 days before one firefighter ended up holding the fort alone.