Following months of complaints from the local firefighters' union about understaffing, safety and pay issues, the City of Alexandria is considering applying for a competitive $6 million grant to partially fund 20 new positions.
The grant is through the 2021 SAFER grant program through the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA).
"SAFER grants provide financial assistance to help fire departments increase the number of frontline firefighters. The goal of SAFER is to help communities better meet industry minimum standards and obtain 24-hour staffing to provide adequate fire protection," the city explained in a supplement to the Jan. 25 City Council docket. "AFD will seek to hire an additional 20 firefighters for relief staffing through the grant program following on the Office of Performance Analytics (OPA) Report from November 2019 which recommended the Fire Department needed an additional 26 positions in order to meet relief staffing level requirements."
The City of Alexandria won SAFER grants in 2017 and 2018.
Persistent understaffing of emergency response personnel in Alexandria has created safety issues, according to local firefighters' union leadership. A letter to the media from Dec. 10, after firefighters from Alexandria and Arlington both responded to a major fire near Crystal City, stated: "According to IAFF Local 2141 and IAFF Local 2800, there were multiple close calls at the scene, which could have resulted in significantly more property damage, as well as potential injuries to citizens and first responders. Close calls, the unions claim, that were caused by the City ofAlexandria’s inability to fully staff their fire department."
City council members are expected to approve the grant application for the 2021 SAFER grant program at the Jan. 25 city council meeting.
The grant would pay the salary and benefits for 20 full time firefighters for three years with the expectation that the City of Alexandria would step up and fund the positions going forward from that point. The cost of gear and training is on the city to provide. That means that Alexandria would need to pay for the 20 positions starting in year 4 (estimated at $2.3 million) if awarded.
"There will be overtime savings from these positions once they are fully trained and onboarded. Based on the time until they are trained, these 20 positions will reduce overtime on a daily basis by approximately 6 positions per day. This overtime savings equates to approximately $1.3 million in overtime savings per year once the employees are fully trained and released to the field," according to information being provided to city council members.
For more information about the SAFER grant, go to www.fema.gov/grants/preparedness/firefighters/safer.
