From Judy Gilleland - City Manager

The City of Middletown applied for the Federal Firefighters Grant (Staffing for Adequate Fire and EMS Response: SAFER). This comes after careful consideration and discussion with city council, the city manager and Middletown Division of Fire (both Labor and Management).

The grant application was for six firefighters. If awarded, this will allow us to recall the five laid-off firefighters and hire one more (the number six works best with our business model of three shifts). All costs will be paid for by the federal grant for two years without local responsibility during that time and/or beyond. These six positions if awarded will not completely replace the nine lost due to 2012 budget reductions or return the fire apparatus placed out of service, however it will be a significant improvement to minimum daily staffing and as such, directly improve safety and quality of life for the community and the MDF first responder. Chief Botts thanks everyone involved who worked on putting the application together with special recognition to MDF Firefighter Sean Woodmansee.