FORT LEE, Va. β As the federal government shutdown approaches 40 days, civilian workers at Fort Lee in Virginia continue to work without pay. For the firefighters on the Army post, it means showing up for work knowing they won't receive a paycheck.
"It's super tough right now," a Fort Lee firefighter, who asked not to be publicly identified, said. "Having a three-year-old and a one-year-old is tough right now. Christmas might be skimp right now, if we even have anything, depending on how long this goes."
The firefighter and several others agreed to discuss the challenges they're facing since their last paycheck in early October.
"We've had to get on a pretty tight budget," another Fort Lee firefighter shared.
The president of the Fort Lee Firefighter's Union says fire crews are having to make drastic decisions.
"Do I buy diapers? Do I buy formula? Do I pay my electric bill? What do I do?" Kevin Hamel said.
The Fort Lee firefighters are federal employees under the Department of Defense. At Fort Lee, they're supposed to work 48 hours on and 48 hours off.
The firefighters say they haven't hired anybody since February and are "super understaffed," so mandatory overtime is common.
"You can easily go in for a 48-hour shift. Guess what. It turns into a 72-hour shift with less than 24 hours off. Then you have to come back for another 48 hours," one firefighter said.
Hamel, a retired Fort Lee firefighter, said a typical shift is 288 hours a month.
"We've had three employees that I know of, that have worked in excess of 190 hours of overtime extra, just since the shutdown," he said.
Hamel says even with the overtime and no pay, the Fort Lee firefighters continue to go to work.
"[Morale is] terrible, but the public will never see it," Hamel said. "When the tones go off, our guys and gals put their game face on and they go out and do their jobs."
If the shutdown continues, some firefighters said they may be forced to look for another job in order to survive financially.
I spoke with the firefighters Thursday morning, and they tell me they remain dedicated to their jobs. But the longer the shutdown goes on, the harder it is to go to work and not get paid.
Click here if you'd like to help out the firefighters at Fort Lee.
Click here to email Kevin Hamel if you're interested in helping the firefighers.
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