The Yachats Rural Fire Protection District is down at least one firefighter/paramedic position until it finishes its 2019-20 budget and first union negotiations.

Two firefighter/paramedics recently left the department – one for a job closer to home in Central Oregon and the other for a position with the Lincoln County Sheriff’s Office.

But the department has hired Nick Codija of Carlton to fill one of the spots, said Fire Chief Frankie Petrick. He started this week.

Yachats’s career staff work two days on and get four days off. Petrick said there are still 1-2 career firefighter/paramedics on every shift “but not three” as sometimes in the past.

The district has also had a vacancy all year that it has not filled because of budget uncertainties. Now, with a second vacancy, Petrick said she “feels it’s prudent to wait” until union negotiations wrap up.

The district’s budget committee is scheduled to meet at 10:30 a.m. Monday, June 10.

Yachats firefighters voted to unionize last August, joining the Newport Chapter of the International Association of Fire Fighters. But negotiations for the first contract didn’t begin until this winter. There have now been three sessions, with a fourth scheduled Friday, May 31 and another on June 11.

The staff shortage does have an effect on overtime, Petrick said, when someone is sick, has training, or misses work for some other reason. “This year it’s been particularly hard,” she said.