Atlanta to get 75 new firefighters via grant

By Ernie Suggs
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution

ATLANTA — The Atlanta Fire Rescue Department is getting 75 new firefighters.

The department announced Tuesday that the Department of Homeland Security and the Federal Emergency Management Agency has awarded the city a $9.8 million grant to hire the new firefighters.

"The grant accelerates our strategic plan for increasing staffing levels and providing better emergency medical system, rescue and fire suppression outcomes, while also enhancing firefighter safety and morale," said Fire Chief Kelvin Cochran.

Cochran is the former head of the United States Fire Administration, a division of FEMA, which was housed in the Department of Homeland Security.

"That experience gave me a different approach to the competitive grant process," Cochran said, on winning the grant.

The federal money will solve several lingering manpower problems for the department, which has around 800 people working in field operations, Cochran said.

There are 100 vacancies that are being funded, and a class of 70 will begin the fire academy mid-March. The SAFER grant class of 70 will begin in June, Cochran said.

"There is never a period where you have all of your vacancies filled," Cochran said. "But our goal is to have less than 20 vacancies in a year. So we are gearing up our training program to accommodate that need."

Cochran said the Staffing for Adequate Fire and Emergency Response grant will allow four firefighters to staff each fire apparatus. Currently, 66 percent of all calls are manned by fire trucks with only three fire fighters. The new hires would all but guarantee that all trucks that go would have at least four fighters.

"That makes a significant difference in saving lives and minimizing property loss," Cochran said.

The 75 firefighters would be hired at a $38,193 base salary.

The news of the federal grant, officially announced Tuesday by Reed at his annual State of the City breakfast, comes at a delicate time for the city.

Last week, cities were hit hard by the fiscal squeeze in President Obama's federal budget, losing out on billions of dollars in federal grants.

In 2010, the city won a $47 million grant to fund a streetcar project, and $4.9 million from HUD's Neighborhood Stabilization Program to rebuild neighborhoods.

Reed acknowledged that those kinds of special projects may soon be phased out, but he said Atlanta should continue to do well is picking up federal dollars for items like public safety.

"We are going to be fine," Reed said.

Copyright 2011 The Atlanta Journal-Constitution