East St. Louis Firefighters Struggle

As a member of the East St. Louis Fire Dept, we continue to struggle with manpower and equipment failure everyday. Our dept responds to the highest percentage of fires in the St. Louis metro east. ​With over 150 firefighters that used to protect this city, only 53 remain due to budget cuts. Unfortunately the East St. Louis fire department is facing laying off 22 more firefighters in May 2013 which is extremely dangerous. Most fire departments respond up to 5 engines, 2 Chiefs and 15 firefight