The staff at East Liverpool's fire department is dwindling, and it's going to get worse.

Right now, East Liverpool has 14 fire fighters.

Those firefighters are distributed among four fire houses in the city.

In most cases, there are two fire fighters at each station per shift.  In just a couple weeks, the staff will go down to 12 because the chief and another fire fighter will be retiring. 

Fire chief Gerry Barcus said he's worried that the shortage will be dangerous, and that firefighters could be hurt or killed while trying to rescue people.

The Chief said he was told by the city's mayor and safety service director that budget constraints are to blame.

21 news called East Liverpool Mayor James Swogger, but the call was not returned.