By Ben Weathers
The Capital
ANNAPOLIS, Md. — The Annapolis Fire Department has been awarded more than $1.8 million in federal funding to hire a dozen new firefighters.
The funding was announced Thursday in a press release from Sen. Barbara Mikulski’s office.
With a current staff of around 130, the move will increase the department’s strength by about 9 percent.
The funding is being made available through the U.S. Department of Homeland Security’s Staffing for Adequate Fire and Emergency Response, or SAFER, program. It will be used to hire 12 new firefighters for two years, including training and benefits.
After two years, the city will have to pick up the cost, Fire Chief David Stokes said.
Stokes said the positions will be assigned to a ladder truck at the Eastport Fire Station. The fire chief said the move will help to compensate for when 14 positions were cut from the location in 2010 under then-Mayor Josh Cohen’s administration.
The department has about six months to hire the firefighters. Stokes said the timing of the announcement was fortutitous as the department is in the process of interviewing applicants for three vacant positions.
“It’s good timing for us because we started to fill those three vacancies and we had a lot of applicants,” Stokes said. “We’re in the process of interviewing those people right now as we speak.”
The firefighters could be trained and out in the field in a matter of months, Stokes said.
The grant funding still has to be approved by the City Council. The council is expected to take up the matter at its next meeting Sept. 12, said Rhonda Wardlaw, a city spokeswoman.
Wardlaw said she expected a “robust dialogue,” given the financial commitment that comes with the funding.
In June, the Anne Arundel County Council voted to cut about $7 million in SAFER grant funding from its budget. The vote came after County Executive Steve Schuh argued that the financial burden of hiring about 52 new firefighters would be too great after the grant funding ran out in two years.
Prior to applying for the funding, the city fire department received the support of Mayor Mike Pantelides and City Manager Thomas Andrews, Wardlaw said.
“The mayor is one vote out of the nine, but I do know there is a strong showing of support for public safety on the City Council,” she said.
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