Fire department hopes to boost staffing with federal grant

Riley Funk, St. Joseph News-Press, Mo.
·2 min read

Apr. 30—In an effort to combat challenges like an increase in local emergency calls, the St. Joseph Fire Department is looking to expand its staff.

The department filed an application for the Staffing for Adequate Fire and Emergency Response, or SAFER Grant. The grant was created by the Department of Homeland Security and offered through the Federal Emergency Management Agency.

Up to $1,001,766 would be used for four full-time positions.

Assistant Fire Chief Jamey McVicker said the community can rest easy knowing the department is fully staffed, but this grant would be to increase the number of workers to match the increase in response calls. He said for the past four to five years, there has been an increase.

"One of the major challenges we're seeing is every year, we're increasing our call volume by about 1,000 calls per year and that is on the same workload," McVicker said. "Our guys and gals are working more and we want to see what we can do to help that."

The second goal would be to add a new water pumper truck for firefighters at Station 1. This will allow the department to get water to fires faster near the Downtown area.

The grant would cover the funding for the new department positions for a three-year period. McVicker said this is a win-win for the department and residents.

"This is a fantastic trial period. Using federal money to pay for three firefighters on the truck and a fourth one in reserve, to see if this really does make a difference in our area," McVicker said.

The application was authorized by the St. Joseph City Council on Monday night after receiving a 9-0-0 passing vote.

Now, the department waits to see if they will receive the grant or not. The department has applied for this grant before and did not receive the funding. McVicker said they hope to get a result before September.

While this would be a boost for the department, McVicker said firefighters will continue to give their all to serving the community.

"I have no doubt in my mind that they will continue to serve in the same capacity or even better. We just seem to fill the void that's needed," McVicker said. "If we do not get it, we will just be status quo. We will continue to do the research to say, 'This is where we need to be. This is what we need to do to get there' and just continue down that path."

Riley Funk can be reached at riley.funk@newspressnow.com.