Changes are coming to the labor agreement between the city of Mission and its firefighters.

On Thursday, city leaders met with the Mission Firefighter's Association to go over their labor agreement.

It comes as the city officially combined its fire and ambulance services within the city’s fire department.

PREVIOUS STORY: Mission firefighters now responding to all medical calls in the city

Mission Firefighter's Association President Mike Silva says that meant the department's labor agreement with the city needed an overhaul.

“We are not going to fall behind, we are going to continue moving forward,” Silva said.

In order to move forward, the association wanted to set hard ground rules so first responders wouldn't get burned out, Silva said.

Changes under the agreement included that staff must now rotate between fire and EMS assignments, and there must be a minimum of 30 people working per shift. 

“Rotations were not occurring, and it was causing fatigue in some of the medics,” Silva said. “Some were working 48 hours, 72 hours, and we couldn't have that.”

Silva says over the past year and half, the city of Mission hired an additional 28 firefighters, and are looking to hire four more in anticipation of the EMS service. 

Some of the firefighters were are already trained as EMS personnel, others weren't.

Channel 5 News was told the city will pay to train current and future firefighters.

Mission City Mayor Norie Gonzalez Garza says the city saw the importance in ensuring there is enough trained staff.

Garza says the total cost of the EMS based system is close to $3.6 million for the first year. That includes salary, training, equipment and operational costs.

“We are hoping to offset our expenses by the revenue, and a lot of it will be insurance based,” Garza said. “We just want to assure our residents that when they call 9-1-1, it will be our units to come out to help them, and they will have the ultimate medical care."

The agreement will be discussed one last time during a May 28 city council meeting before approval.

Watch the video above for the full story.