The Hollister Fire Department in the final round of notifications had not received word on a grant, the loss of which could result in the city laying off 12 firefighters.
The grant would provide the fire department with $1,145,000 per year and extend a current funding stream paying for the dozen additional firefighters.
“As of yet, we have not received word of the award,” said Fire Chief Bob Martin Del Campo in a phone call with the Free Lance on Friday afternoon. A notification could come as late as Monday, he said.
In 2014, the fire department received a SAFER grant of $2.2 million, which gave it the funding to staff 12 firefighters. Since then, call volume has gone up 20 percent and the population has grown, Martin Del Campo said. He was optimistic because the department received the grant last time with a lower call volume and population.
“I was hoping they would provide us the funding to retain these people and we could come up with a program to sustain them,” he said.
Earlier this week, Martin Del Campo in a report to county supervisors addressed the possibility of not receiving funds. He said with the loss of 12 firefighters, the total number of operating firefighters will fluctuate between 23 and 27. At times, overtime will be mandatory in order to meet minimum staffing requirements, he said.
The 2016-17 general fund budget for the fire department is $6,834,406, with $4,499,467 of that allotted for personnel.
According to FEMA’s website, the SAFER (Staffing for Adequate Fire and Emergency Response) grant “was created to provide funding directly to fire departments and volunteer firefighter interest organizations to help them increase or maintain the number of trained, ‘front line’ firefighters available in their communities.”
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