The Reno Fire Department is receiving $1.8 million to hire firefighters. The grant will pay for them over the next three years. The Staffing for Adequate Fire and Emergency Response (SAFER) Grant will result in eight additional firefighters for Reno. Chief David Cochran says the money is an important first step to getting staffing levels up to where they should be. He says those levels are the same as they were 20 years ago, but the call volume is three times higher.
"On a volume of 40,000 calls per year, they respond to over 200 calls per firefighter," Cochran said. "By way of comparison, national average is about 125 calls per firefighter, even if you look at a busy department."
The new hires will bring the total number of firefighters to 221. Cochran says a city Reno's size should have between 255 and 260 firefighters.
"We're still in the neighborhood of 30-40 firefighters short," Cochran said. "This is a step in the right direction. It's not the end goal but it's the direction we want to go."
Cochran says the additional firefighters will help boost morale throughout the department. He says the firefighters are doing a great job to maintain a six-minute response time but that more firefighters will help reduce the workload.
"When we have hire new firefighters, even if they're replacement firefighters, bringing in that young blood, so to speak, really gives them that morale boost and now when they know it's not just replacing but we're actually adding firefighter," Cochran said.
The city has to match about one-third of the cost, and eventually find a way to pay for the firefighters on its own.
East Fork Fire Protection District is also getting new four new firefighters thanks to a $1.1 million SAFER Grant. It will also hire two more firefighters with its own funding. Chief Tod Carlini says the extra staffing is critical because East Fork handles the medical emergencies for Douglas County.
"When those ambulances run transport, we lose a certain percentage of our firefighting capacity," Carlini said. "So with the SAFER Grant, we're going to be able to maintain some of that firefighting capacity."
Geography is another factor. Carlini says East Fork covers 700 square-miles from Carson City to Topaz Lake. It has five stations and eight volunteer departments. The new hires will bring its total to 69 firefighters.
"The residents are going to be the folks that are on the receiving end of the benefits, first and foremost," Carlini said. "Secondary to that, it's going to be our staff."
The Pyramid Lake Paiute Tribe is getting more than $327,000 to pay for fire operations and safety. All total, the three jurisdictions are receiving more than $3 million and each has to match a percentage of the cost.
Meanwhile, the Reno Police Department is adding 12 officers as part of the most recent city budget. RPD will have 343 sworn police officers, which is still much lower than it would like. Not only is Reno's population growing but officials say the area is twice as big as it was in the early 1990s.
"We could absolutely use, with our size community, an additional 100 police officers," Dep. Chief Oliver Miller, Reno Police Department said.
Miller says adding more officers will help RPD do more community policing by freeing up more of them to get to know the residents.
"It gives our officers a chance to get out of their cars and to meet the individuals that live in their respective areas of town or shop owners, those individuals that really do help us do our jobs," Miller said. "It really is a community approach. We can't do our work without the community."
RPD expects to have its new officers within the next year. The new firefighters have to go through a training process that takes 15-18 weeks, depending on the jurisdiction. East Fork Fire Protection District expects its new firefighters to start by February. Reno's could start working in March.
