Multiple Lowcountry first responder agencies say they are experiencing at least a few staff members being out due to COVID.
“They’re losing time with their families, they’re losing time at home," said William Pesature, Vice President of the Professional Firefighter's Association of South Carolina. Now they’re being subjected to work extra time, they’re pushing through it and everybody likes to have a little extra money, but guys used to call this blood money. You don’t want it." Pesature is speaking on the long hours he says first responders are being forced to fill to make up for outages due to COVID. The Charleston Fire Department says they are missing 40 members, the Charleston County Sheriff's Office has 22 employees out, Charleston County EMS is missing seven employees and the Berkley County Sheriff's Office is missing four.