NORTHWOOD, Ohio — The Northwood Fire Department will receive a nearly $940,000 grant from the Federal Emergency Management Agency to supply wages and benefits to full-time employees for the next three years.
According to the department, over the past few years, multiple fire departments across northwest Ohio and the country have struggled with understaffing and lack of funds.
However, the city of Northwood is looking to change that and move away from its consistent issues with the SAFER grant — Staffing for Adequate Fire and Emergency Response.
"It's just really huge," said Joel Whitmore, the Northwood fire chief. "It allows us to add three staff members. We'll have one additional firefighter on each shift, 24-hour shifts, 7 days a week, 365 days a year."
Whitmore said the community's response to the grant has been supportive and excited.
"Just what I've been seeing on social media, it seems to be extremely positive," he said.
Whitmore added the department was one of five nationwide to be awarded funds in the first round.
"To be one of the first five across the country to receive this award, and of the five that were awarded, ours was the biggest," Whitmore said.
Local leaders and partnerships expressed their hope for the grant to solve issues, including part-time staffing.
"We are heading off some of the issues that are being seen through the area. Shifts not going staffed, call times extending, those sorts of things," said Kevin Laughlin, city administrator. "I think we're going to continue to provide excellent safety services to our residents."
He said Northwood is looking to move away from its continued issues and toward a better future.
"The plan has been to begin hiring full-time staff as a way to address some of the issues we've been having with regard to finding new fire department personnel," Laughlin said. "This is (our) way of trying to be ahead of that issue and saying we're going to move away from that part-time model and we're going to begin to hire full-time firefighters."
Whitmore said there are no specific plans yet for when the grant runs out, though.
"We've been evaluating our operations for a number of years and we understand there is going to be an expense to add to the city," he said. "As far as once the grant money does run out, the city is in the process of evaluating different options for funding to ensure that we keep them on staff."
Laughlin agreed, saying the city will address that when the time comes.
Whitmore and Laughlin both want to work toward a fire district in the future while continuing to fund staff to respond to community members in need.
"The city leadership will have to respond. It's only for three years, so the city will address that when it comes," Laughlin said. "I think we'll do what we can moving forward to ensure that we continue to offer excellent safety services for the citizens of Northwood."