City to add 12 firefighters

WOONSOCKET – Fire Chief Paul Shatraw says he plans to add a third firefighter to each of the department’s ladder companies and add one additional firefighter to Station 4 on Mendon Road thanks to $1.5 million in federal grant funding that will enable the Woonsocket Fire Department to hire an additional 12 firefighters next year.

The city’s $1,535,130 grant award was announced Tuesday by U.S. Senators Jack Reed and Sheldon Whitehouse, Congressman David Cicilline and Woonsocket Mayor Lisa Baldelli-Hunt. The funding was awarded from the Federal Emergency Management Agency’s (FEMA) competitive Staffing for Adequate Fire and Emergency Response (SAFER) grant program.

Shatraw says the $1.5 awarded to Woonsocket will help fund the hiring of 12 fulltime firefighters and ensure that department is compliant

with National Fire Protection Association regulations.

Shatraw said once the grant is accepted by the city and signed off on the new firefighters would be hired in 2018 and then sent to the fire academy.

“It’s going to take some time before we have actual boots on the ground, but certainly by this time next year we should have these additional firefighters on board,” he said.

With the additional firefighters, the Fire Department will be able to field threeman ladder companies, and its ladder trucks will be operable from the moment they arrive on scene, expe- diting the time it takes to set up ground ladders, vent the building appropriately, and search burning buildings for victims.

The grant is for three years and will enable the fire department to recruit, hire, train and retain the additional firefighters. The grant will subsidize the salaries of those additional firefighters for three years. After the grant expires, SAFER grantfunded firefighters would be retained by the city by filling vacancies as other firefighters retire.

“Twelve is not an unrealistic number for us to retain after three years,” said Shatraw, adding the city could also renew its SAFER grant to retain those positions.

“Woonsocket greatly appreciates the delegation’s continued support of our first responders,” BaldelliHunt said yesterday. “Funding these additional positions ensures adequate coverage for emergencies in our city.”

Reed, a senior member of the Appropriations Committee who helped make $345 million available for SAFER hiring grants in the latest Omnibus Appropriations law and supported Woonsocket’s application, said the grant money will go a long way toward improving response times and enhancing the safety of the public and the city’s firefighters.

“This is a highly competitive program, and I want to congratulate Mayor BaldelliHunt, Chief Shatraw and the entire fire department for their hard work on this application and their service to the community,” he said,

“This $1.5 million award allows the Woonsocket Fire Department to continue to meet the demands of the people of Woonsocket,” said Cicilline, who advocated directly to FEMA on behalf of this grant application. “Our firefighters and first responders all deserve our sincere gratitude for the dangerous work they do.”

With these latest competitive federal grants, Rhode Island has now received over $8.5 million in federal fire grant safety funding this year to help eleven fire departments throughout the state. Since 2002, Rhode Island fire departments and other first responders have won over $36 million in federal SAFER awards.

Shatraw lauded the fire department’s grant committee, which prepared the grant request for submission to federal officials, as well as the delegation that helped secure those funds in Washington.

“This is a significant monetary grant and we are very grateful to Senators Reed, Whitehouse and Congressman Cicillini for supporting the city’s grant application,” the said.

In June, Woonsocket and six other area fire departments were awarded Assistance to Firefighters (AFG) Grants. The departments, which include Smithfield, North Smithfield, Lime Rock, Saylesville, Albion, and Cumberland, are splitting a federal share of $203,500 to purchase a new firefighter accountability system.The accountability system will assist the departments in keeping better track of the location and condition of their firefighters while operating at emergency incidents.

Last year, the Woonsocket Fire Department was awarded federal funding to purchase a new aerial ladder truck to augment an aging fleet. The department will take possession of that truck in October.