Manassas accepts grant to beef up firefighting capabilities

Manassas City Council at its June 20 meeting voted to accept a $1,423,968 grant from the U.S. Department of Homeland Security to add six firefighter/EMTs and six firefighter/medics to its department of fire and rescue.
The Staffing for Adequate Fire and Emergency Response (SAFER) grant covers salaries and benefits, but not equipment, for two years for the dozen new personnel, Brett Bowman, the city’s new fire and rescue chief, told the session. The city must maintain the 12 positions for an additional 12 months after the initial two-year period. The grant period runs from June 26, 2011, to June 25, 2013.
Total cost to the city, over three years, comes to $863,344, with $7000 per firefighter allocated in 2012, $2000 per firefighter paid in 2013 and salary and benefits for the dozen in 2014 amounting to $755,344.
Councilman Jonathan Way observed before the vote accepting the grant would head the fire department toward conforming with national standards, and that there “is a clear indication of benefits” to the city’s accepting the grant. He added that if Manassas did not take the grant, another jurisdiction would.
“We pay our fair share of taxes, we might as well take the benefits,” he noted.
Read the full story in the July 8 edition of the Manassas Observer.