The Morro Bay Fire Department is hoping to bring in a few more firefighters.
The hiring of more firefighters is not in the current budget, but Morro Bay Fire Chief Daniel McCrain says the department is short-staffed.
At the next city council meeting, he'll be asking for approval to apply for FEMA's SAFER grant.
SAFER stands for Staffing for Adequate Fire and Emergency Response. The grant aims to help departments that have staffing levels significantly below what’s required by National Fire Protection Association standards.
Chief McCrain says they’re asking for funding for two firefighters. He says the hiring would increase safety, reduce the workload on current firefighters, and allow for a faster response time to calls.
If the department receives the grant, it will expire in three years.
Chief McCrain adds that without this funding, it would be difficult for a city the size of Morro Bay to support the additional positions without other sources of revenue coming in.
If accepted, the grant would pay for the total salary and benefit costs for each of the funded positions including payroll taxes and all anticipated costs over the next three years.
Fire Chief Daniel McCrain says if they are unsuccessful in getting this grant, they will continue to operate as they currently do and look into other opportunities to increase staffing.
Morro Bay has applied for this grant before but was not selected.
