In a city of about 26,000 people in 14 square miles, the fire department has long been troubled by layoffs and budget deficits.

Following a 2013 ruling from the Illinois Labor Relations Board, the city was ordered to pay firefighters a total of $382,259.82 for lost wages, pension contributions, medical contributions and more.

The labor board found the city to have violated its contract by reducing the number of total staff and not offering the same wage increase as it did to the police bargaining unit.

East St. Louis announced in 2013 it would lay off about a third of the department, but a month later the city avoided cuts after coming to an agreement with the union.