SARASOTA, Fla. — The Sarasota County Fire Department will soon make its case in front of the county commission to increase fire fees for residents and businesses. Firefighters say that inflation is impacting first responder organizations and a rate change would provide them with financial security to address staffing and safety issues.
In his 34 years of service, Darren Wallentine said it’s never been this expensive to be a firefighter.
“Everything that we are purchasing, whether it’s apparatus, ladder trucks, fire engines, the PPE, the personal protective equipment, the firefighting gear that we put on our firefighters has exponentially, exponentially grown in cost,” he explained…