Stow FEMA Firefighters Grant Expires in April

A federal grant that helped the city of Stow hire, and pay salaries for, five firefighters expires next month.

The Federal Emergency Management Agency SAFER grant awarded to Stow in 2010 technically expires in April.

The salaries and benefits of those five firefighters hired thanks entirely to the grant actually covers those costs through 2013.

But it's in January 2014 that Stow Fire Chief Bill Kalbaugh will be faced with potential reductions in staffing levels at the fire department.

What happens then?

"That's a (city) council decision," Kalbaugh said. "We certainly hope the council will continue to fund the positions."

Here's how the grant helped the fire department.

When the department applied for the FEMA grant in 2010 there were actually six firefighter positions open in the department that the city couldn't afford to staff.

With the FEMA grant, Stow's fire department was able to hire five firefighters and bring the staffing level up from 48 to 53 out of an authorized 54 positions.

For 2013, the fire chief is anticipating one to two retirements. And next year three to four more firefighters are expected to retire.

Kalbaugh said that those losses through attrition will bring the city back down to the staffing level of 48 — where it was prior to using the FEMA grant.

He's hopeful that through those retirements the department will be able to afford to keep the five new firefighters who were hired with the grant.

"I don't anticipate the need to lay anybody off," Kalbaugh said. "We were lucky to get (the grant) awarded to us. It's kept us nearly fully staffed for two years."

Staffing levels are an important factor in the way the department's ISO rating, or fire suppression response rating, is determined.

The ISO rating essentially measures a community's firefighting capabilities on a sliding scale, and the lower the ranking the better the city can extinguish fires.

Kalbaugh said Stow recently earned a rating of 2 that puts the city among the nation's best-rated departments. The rating also helps lower insurance rates for businesses within the city.

The chief said his recommendation to Stow City Council next year will be to maintain the existing staffing levels to keep that ISO rating from declining.

"It's a huge incentive for businesses to set up shop here," he said. "It's an economic development tool essentially."