City hires 5 firefighters thanks to FEMA grant

By Judy Masterson
Lake County News-Sun

CHICAGO — Five new North Chicago firefighter/paramedics were sworn in on Monday, May 20, and the new hires aren’t costing the city a cent.

Their salaries for the first two years of employment will be paid for through $832,741 in federal grant money, an amount that will also pay the first three years for a sixth firefighter, a veteran of the U.S. Army, who will be sworn in at a later date.

North Chicago Fire Chief Dell Urban, who became Lake County’s first full-time female fire chief with her appointment in August 2012, led the application, under the Federal Emergency Management Agency, for the SAFER — Staffing for Adequate Fire and Emergency Response — Grant, which provides funding directly to fire departments to hire trained “front-line” firefighters.

Full story: North Chicago hires five new firefighters thanks to FEMA grant