By Emily Devlin
The Sentinel & Enterprise
FITCHBURG, Mass. — The Fire Department will continue to grow this year, with four new appointments scheduled to go before the City Council for approval tonight.
Ryan Cringan of Southboro, Kyle Forrest of Lunenburg, Kristopher Klein of Lunenburg and Yona Vaughan of Leominster will report for duty Aug. 9, said Fire Chief Kevin Roy, pending confirmation by councilors.
The latest batch of new hires, coupled with eight firefighters hired in January, will allow the Fire Department to maintain 16 people on staff at all times.
That number will staff all fire stations and keep all ladder trucks running, according to Roy.
“We’re hoping that at the end of this, we’ll be able to do that with minimal overtime costs,” Roy said.
Before those staffing numbers can be permanently realized, some of the firefighters will have to complete training and attend the Firefighting Academy, Roy said.
The Fire Department will employ 76 firefighters if the four men are confirmed tonight. That’s still a considerable decrease from the 97 firefighters on staff six years ago, before budget cuts kicked in, Roy said.
“We’re still substantially low,” he said.
All of this year’s new hires are being funded by federal grants.
The four candidates up for appointment tonight will be paid for a period of two years by a $389,000 Staff for Adequate Fire and Emergency Response, or SAFER, grant, which is a part of the Department of Homeland Security’s Assistance to Firefighters program.
The new firefighters will earn a salary of $700 per week, Roy said.
Asked whether the positions will be sustained when the grant runs out in two years, Roy said cuts to firefighter salary and benefits finalized with the Firefighters Union in 2009 saved the department nearly $20,000 per person annually, making it more feasible to keep new firefighters on staff when grants expire.
There are also three retirements scheduled this year, according to Roy.
Ward 3 City Councilor Joel Kaddy, chairman of the Public Safety Committee, commended Roy and his staff for securing grant money for new hires.
“I think this kind of takes care of everything for a couple of years,” Kaddy said.
Kaddy said he expected the appointments to pass tonight.
Also tonight, city councilors will take a roll-call vote on a $3 million loan order to pay for boiler replacements at the Fitchburg Alternative High School, Memorial Middle School and Reingold and South Street elementary schools.
Two-thirds of the City Council must vote in favor of the loan order in order for it to pass.
School officials are working with officials from the Massachusetts School Building Authority to pay for the replacements.
The Fitchburg School District will be reimbursed for 80 percent of the project costs.
District Business Manager Robert Jokela said as long as the City Council gives final approval tonight, he’s ready to move on to the next step of hiring an engineer.
The City Council meets tonight after the Committee on Appointments meeting at Fitchburg City Hall at 7 p.m.
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