NW Illinois News

At its Feb. 21 meeting, Freeport City Council approved a request by the fire department to apply for a grant for additional staffing.

Fire Chief Scott Miller explained that the department has two ambulances on order and an ever-increasing ambulance call volume.

He suggested that the two ambulances coming in could become additional instead of replacement vehicles, although they would have to quickly replace some of the older vehicles soon after. The department could get funding for additional personnel for these additional ambulances through the Staffing Adequate for Fire and Emergency Response (SAFER) Grant. 

"So it's anticipated that they will make 300 awards of funding for staffing," the chief said. "This is specifically for staffing. It's not for equipment or any other programs at this time. So it's a highly competitive grant that many, many agencies seek."

The department has actually already submitted the grant application, but sought approval after the fact and a signed statement of support from the elected officials to send in along with the grant application to show that the department has community support. The grant, if awarded, would fund nine firefighters' salaries for three years, a sum over $2 million. Council members were concerned about funding running out after the three years and having nine additional staff members on the payroll. However, Miller said he didn’t expect that to be a problem with the increased calls for ambulance services, and in fact said that the department won't be able to keep up without additional staff pretty soon.

The city manager also brought up the fact that they would have firefighters retiring in the next three years, so they would have to re-examine its staffing and call demands, and balance them with the budget. The department will also be looking at recruitment efforts now as it will have to hire nine people in nine months if the department is awarded the grant.