March 12, 2019
By: Dwayne Page
For several years Smithville Fire Chief Charlie Parker has asked the city to fund at least a couple of full time positions in the fire department.
As of today the only full time firefighter is Chief Parker himself. The other twenty seven members of the department are volunteers. Chief Parker said its becoming more difficult to recruit and retain volunteers and the city would benefit from having full time firefighters ready to respond at a moment’s notice
During Monday night’s regular monthly meeting, Chief Parker requested and received permission from the aldermen to apply for a SAFER Grant which if approved would fund the staffing of two firefighters for the Smithville Fire Department for up to three years.
The Staffing for Adequate Fire and Emergency Response Grants (SAFER), is a federal FEMA program created to provide funding directly to fire departments and volunteer firefighter interest organizations to help them increase or maintain the number of trained, “front line” firefighters available in their communities.
The grants are funded 75% federally with a 25% local match for the first two years and 35% federally with a 65% local match the third year.
“Our grant request would be for two firefighters per day, for five days per week, at nine hours per day for a total of forty five hours per week for three years. If fully funded the grant would total $308,591 with a local match totaling $120,065,” said Chief Parker.
“That gives basically forty five hours a week for day time personnel for two people at the fire hall,” added Chief Parker.
The city is up against a March 22 deadline to get the grant application in. The anticipated funding selection date is May 1 and the city should know by July 31 if the grant is awarded.
The grant funding would only be for three years. After that the city could apply for a new grant, drop the program and let the two paid firefighters go, or pay the entire costs of keeping the two firefighters on staff.