City Accepts SAFER Grant

The Manassas City Council voted Monday night to accept a $1.4M Federal Emergency Management Agency grant that will add 12 additional positions to the fire and rescue department and help it adhere to national safety standars.

The Staffing for Adequate Fire and Emergency Response, or SAFER grant, will cover the saleries and benefits for an additional six firefighters/EMT positions and six firefighter/medic positions for the next two years. In accepting the grant, the city agreed to pay for  uniforms and protective gear for the 12 new employees and continue paying for the grants associated costs for one additional year; as a result,  the total cost to city residents over a three year period is estimated to be $863,344.

The Council voted to accept the grant despite the associated cost, because it will allow the city to adhere to national standards that recommend that every engine should have four firefighters on board for operating purposes.

Interim Fire and Rescue Chief Wade House told the Washington Post last month that is not always the case in Manassas.

“A lot of days, we run with only three people on the engine, the ladder truck and the heavy rescue squad, and from a safety standpoint, it is not the safest way to run your operation," House told the Post. “We need more folks, to get our staffing levels up,” he said.

The SAFER grant would increase the ability for the fire and rescue department to adequately staff its ladder trucks by 75 percent and engine company by 30 percent.

City Fire Chief Brett Bowman told council members at Monday's meeting that the city's fire and rescue department  "has not been adequately staffed since its conception," something the grant will help achieve.

"The federal government is paying for the department to get where it should be already...adhering to national standards," Councilman John Way said.

Way voted to accept the grant because "we are all federal tax payers" and if the council did not vote to accept the money, it would go to another city, resulting in a "missed opportunity."

City documents state the grant is through the United States Department of Homeland Security to improve safety for first responders and the public. 

The goal of the SAFER grant is to have 15 firefighters on a scene within eight minutes 90 percent of the time; currently, that is rarely achieved. With the added SAFER grant posistions, it is expected that this goal will be met 60 to 80 percent of the time.

Vice Mayor Andrew Harrover also voted 'yes,' but said the city needs to be careful in doing so  because of a "lack of expense forecasting."

Harrover said the city is looking at adding over a million dollars to its  fire and rescue fund three years from now when the grant runs out if it wishes to maintain the staff level achieved with the funds. Harrover requested the department work with the city and its staff on creating a 5-year expense forecast.