BANGOR, Maine — The city’s 81 firefighters have been working overtime this year covering for vacancies in the department, but they could soon get a reprieve.
“We’ve been down and had openings for almost a year now,” Assistant Fire Chief Rick Cheverie said Wednesday. “It’s going to be good to finally get some folks on board.”
During a city Finance Committee meeting Monday night, city councilors learned about the department’s staffing issues and about a grant the city has been offered to improve the situation. The Bangor Fire Department is about seven firefighters short of full staffing.
In August 2013, the city applied for a $500,000 Staffing for Adequate Fire and Emergency Response, or SAFER, grant through the U.S. Department of Homeland Security. The grant would have paid for the wages and benefits of four new firefighters for two years.
The city didn’t make the cut, but since then, several agencies that were initially approved to receive the funding have returned or not received the money, so the agency revisited applications and decided to give the funding to Bangor and several other applicants.
The SAFER grant has a few stipulations. Once the funding is applied, the city must attempt to fill all vacancies and agree to not cut any positions during the two-year term of the agreement.
The Bangor Fire Department is working to hire seven firefighters by the end of the year, funded by the existing budget, bringing its staffing level to 88 and making it eligible to receive the SAFER grant, according to Assistant Chief Thomas Higgins. The SAFER grant would allow the department to hire four more, bringing the total to 92.
The full council is expected to decide whether to accept the grant during a meeting next week.
Every Bangor firefighter is required to undergo EMT and paramedic training, and to be licensed and accredited within three years of hiring, according to Higgins. The grant doesn’t cover those training costs, so the city would have to cover tuition costs ranging from $4,858 to $6,790 per hire. The city also would have to cover uniform and equipment costs — about $3,000 per position — for the four firefighters.
The department’s total budget for the current fiscal year was about $8.3 million. Bangor Finance Director Debbie Cyr said the city has spent about $294,000 on overtime in the fire department so far this fiscal year, which started July 1, a higher-than-usual figure at this point in the year. Those training sessions likely will be staggered so not all firefighters are in school at the same time.
After two years, the funding for the four additional firefighting posts will go away, but Higgins said those will likely have the chance of staying on staff, because several firefighters likely will want to retire between now and then.
City Manager Cathy Conlow said during Monday’s meeting that about half the department is eligible or soon will be eligible for retirement. As those people retire, they likely will leave behind openings that could be filled by the four SAFER firefighters after funding dries up and the staffing level returns to 88.
In other fire department news, the city launched a search for its new fire chief in early September after Fire Chief Scott Lucas announced plans to resign after his contract expires in early December. Less than two weeks later, the city placed Lucas on nondisciplinary paid leave, but declined to explain why, calling it a personnel matter. Attempts to reach Lucas have been unsuccessful.
City Manager Cathy Conlow said the search is national, as are all department head searches.
“I hope to have a new chief selected before the first of the year,” Conlow said.
In the interim, the city’s four assistant fire chiefs, Higgins, Cheverie, Anthony Riitano and Darrell Cyr, are filling in.
Follow Nick McCrea on Twitter @nmccrea213.