The Clark County Fire Department was forced to park its Engine 2 Saturday when it didn’t have enough staff to work the shift.

The news was posted by the Winchester Professional Firefighters on social media Saturday morning.

Clark County Fire Chief Ernie Barnes said the decision was made because the department currently has five firefighters off work for injuries.

“We’ve been working a lot of overtime and a lot of mandatory overtime,” Barnes said. “There comes a point if you keep working your people all the time, they’ll start quitting. It leads to more injuries because you’re working tired.”

The firefighters typically work three 24-hour shifts. Two of those shifts are down two people, Barnes said, and the third is missing one person. None of the five are expected to return to work any time soon, he said.

Barnes said the department’s volunteers have been able to help, but they are limited in the number of hours they can work.

Both the city and county fire departments have been struggling with staffing issues. The city is trying to fill several vacancies and new EMS positions, while the county is trying to maintain what they have.

The job market has changed significantly, Barnes said.

“There was a time when the department would get 15 to 20 applications every time (a position) opened,” Barnes said. “For the last five years, we’ve had just enough applications to fill those we had open.”

Salaries in neighboring counties have increased, he said, and the requirements have also gone up.

“There’s a smaller pool of applicants,” he said.

At this point, the decision to park Engine 2 is temporary for Saturday, he said.

Winchester Fire-EMS recently implemented new policies to eliminate mandatory overtime and add the possibility of parking or “browning out” equipment based on available staff on a given day.