Seminole County Fire Department sees uniform shortage

SEMINOLE COUNTY, Fla. — While the pandemic has subsided, supply chain issues are still struggling to catch up.

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This is still affecting our first responders, whose uniforms come from overseas.

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The Seminole County Fire Department said they have had to relax some of their uniform standards as they wait for those shipments to arrive.

“How we’ve been mitigating that [it’s] as if we’re doing classroom work before we get the uniforms in, if they’re in the classroom, they’re wearing their business, casual civilian clothing,” Deputy Fire Chief John Thiebert said.

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Thiebert said firefighters are in shorts and a plain white T-shirt when they are doing physical training.

Seminole County has tried to hire new firefighters for several years with 50 to 60 firefighters/paramedics a year. And with 30 new recruits, having uniforms ready for them has been a challenge.

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“We’ve been experiencing delays in getting our uniforms in, really since COVID,” said Thiebert. “Now that we’re transitioning back to some normalcy, we’re seeing a lot of delays and shipping.”

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Luckily, he said the uniforms have been coming in around the fourth week of training. But it’s not just the clothes - badges are slow to come in as well.

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