Ill. fire department ready to hire

By Sheila Ahern
The Chicago Daily Herald

WHEELING, Ill. — The Wheeling Fire Department will hire six firefighters, three of them thanks to a $500,000 federal grant.

The Federal Emergency Management Agency awarded the grant to Wheeling early this week. In 2009, the program awarded about $210 million to fire departments nationwide.

"This is coming at a great time for us," said Wheeling Fire Chief Keith MacIsaac. "We've lost a lot of people through our early retirement program.

"It was getting to the point we are so low on people we were going to have to pull equipment, like a ladder truck, out of service."

Last year Wheeling's fire department had about 18 firefighters on three shifts. Today, that figure is 14 firefighters per shift, MacIsaac said.

The grant will pay the salaries and benefits for the three firefighters for two years.

After that, the village will have to pick up the costs to keep them on, MacIsaac said.

To build the department back up, MacIsaac said the village board gave him permission to hire up to six firefighters.

The village board must formally accept the FEMA grant, which MacIsaac expects will happen this month.

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