Since joining the fire department a few months ago, Redding's new fire chief has been busy trying to keep the community safe.
The last couple of months have been very busy for Chief Jerrod Vanlandingham. He said there are two issues he’s focused on, staffing and response time.
Chief Vanlandingham said he has three engines with only two people assigned per engine. The national standard is at least three people per engine.
Not having enough people can impact response times and can be a huge safety issue for both the community and firefighters.
“The city has done a really good job trying to slowly get us to that spot, but we still have three engine companies that only have two people on it,” Chief Vanlandingham said. “That's a huge safety issue for our community and a huge safety issue for our firefighters as well.”
Vanlandingham said they need another fire station near the Highway 44 corridor in east Redding, which would help with response times to that area.