Modesto could receive funding for 9 new firefighters, reopening of station. Here’s how.
The Modesto Fire Department has been awarded a $4.2 million federal grant to hire nine firefighters over three years, which the fire chief says will reduce overtime, including mandated OT, and save the department money.
The Federal Emergency Management Agency announced Sept. 10 that Modesto was among the agencies nationwide it had awarded Staffing for Adequate Fire and Emergency Response grants.
“We’re very excited about this,” Modesto Fire Chief Alan Ernst said. “... It’s not something that is just given out. It’s a very competitive process.”
City Council members voted 7-0 at their March 9 meeting to let the Fire Department apply for the grant. Ernst said he expects to ask council members at their Sept. 28 meeting to accept it.
He said the grant covers the cost of the salaries and benefits, including the annual increases, for the nine firefighters over the three years. He said if the City Council accepts the grant, the firefighters could be hired, trained and on the job by spring 2022.
Ernst said the Fire Department estimates the grant will cost the city $220,000 over the three years, primarily the cost of equipping the firefighters. But he said the department estimates it will save $1.98 million in reduced overtime spending over the three years.
The city’s grant application states the Fire Department has gone from 178 firefighters in 2008— from the chief down to the newest hire — to 135. The reduction is because of the city’s budget constraints.
City officials have consistently said Modesto’s revenues have not grown as fast its expenses, which are primarily the cost of its employees.
Ernst said the grant will allow the department to reduce mandated overtime, which has increased during the pandemic in part because of firefighters contracting COVID-19 and others having to quarantine.
He said on a typical day the department may require one to six firefighters to work overtime. That does not include firefighters who volunteer to work overtime. But he said firefighters working too much overtime was a concern before the pandemic.
Relief for other firefighters
He said the nine firefighters would serve as relief firefighters. Three would be assigned to the Oakdale Fire Protection District’s Knights Ferry station, allowing it to increase staffing per shift from two to three firefighters.
The fire protection district and the Oakdale Fire Department have contracted with Modesto since July 2019 to have the Modesto Fire Department staff its stations. (Modesto hired the agencies’ firefighters as part of providing service to Oakdale and its surrounding communities.)
Ernst said fully staffing the Knights Ferry station complies with Modesto’s labor agreement with its firefighters association and follows the National Fire Protection Association’s minimum staffing recommendation.
But he said the three firefighters would be available to help the Modesto Fire Department as needed.
The six others firefighters would serve as relief for the Modesto Fire Department, filling in when other firefighters are not on the job.
Reopen shuttered station
Ernst said having the additional firefighters also will allow the department to reopen Fire Station No. 8 at the Modesto Airport at times as staffing is available. The department shuttered the station a few years ago as a budget savings. The station also served the area surrounding the airport.
Modesto’s 10 other stations remain open.
He said Modesto is not obligated to keep the nine firefighters once the grant expires. But he said the city would plan to keep them by finding the funding or moving them to open positions in the department created by attrition, such as a firefighter retiring.
U.S. Rep. Josh Harder, D-Turlock, wrote a letter to FEMA in April in support of Modesto’s grant application and inquired about the grant’s status in late August.
“We certainly appreciate the support,” Ernst said, adding he also wanted to recognize the hard work by his staff on the grant.
This story was originally published September 19, 2021 at 4:00 AM.
