Albany is bolstering its fire department with federal funds.
The Albany Fire Department is receiving a Staffing for Adequate Fire and Emergency Response — or "SAFER" — grant of nearly 1.9 million dollars. The federal assistance announced Thursday is from the Federal Emergency Management Agency in cooperation with the U.S. Fire Administration.
The city has currently budgeted 245 positions. The grant adds 15 more, boosting the total to 260 for the next two years.
Mayor Kathy Sheehan says it allows the city to add more firefighters without impacting the existing payroll, and it also means Albany will realize savings on overtime pay, so taxpayers can breathe a sigh of relief. "One of the things that the city needs to get better at and that we're committed to getting better at is bringing on new firefighters in a way that makes more sense, that responds more quickly to the number of retirements we have so that we can keep the department as fully staffed as possible."
Albany Fire Department Chief Warren Abriel says the 15 new positions will enable the department to more effectively staff its responding units. "All of the open positions have been put out to bid throughout the department, so they're kinda the last ones that nobody seems to want, but that changes month to month, if all of a sudden somebody realizes they wanna go to the South End or Arbor Hill, and all of a sudden bids'll be filled, so looking at the list right now, the list might not be the same when these recruits come out of school."
At the end of the grant’s two-year term, Sheehan says the city has the option to re-apply. "We're not gonna step back for two years and say OK, we're done, but we have to look at what we can do. One of the things that this department and that the firefighters unions has brought to our attention, are revenue opportunities that exist within this department and with respect to the life-saving services that we provide, but also with respect to the services that we're providing to buildings in this city, to the types of things this department does that other departments find as revenue sources. So, this allows us again to have a fully staffed force for the pieces of apparatus that we have and gives us the ability to continue to be creative and work together on ways that we can have a sustainable department budget going forward."
The "SAFER" funding was secured as a result of a group effort by New York's U.S. Senators Chuck Schumer and Kirsten Gillibrand, and Congressman Paul Tonko.
