Moorhead Applies for SAFER Grant

June 24, 2005

Moorhead Fire has applied for a Federal "Staffing for Adequate Fire and Emergency Response" (SAFER) grant to hire three additional Firefighters. One Firefighter would serve on each of our three shifts to bring total staffing each day to ten. Currently nine personnel comprise each shift. With vacations and sick leave we allow the daily staffing to drop to seven.

Moorhead is being challenged by the growth of our City. As our population and size in square miles continues to expand, our call volume increases and response times into new areas increase. It is anticipated that a third station will eventually be needed on our South Side to maintain response times. A large amount of money is currently being invested to build streets and extend the water and sewer system. It is a challenge to find the money hire additional staff to serve these new areas.

We are also attempting to meet federal safety standards which require us to have a minimum of four personnel on the scene before we enter a burning structure in most situations. A majority of the time our South Station only has three personnel on-duty

Our shift personnel work rotating 24-hour periods beginning at 8am each day to provide continuous coverage. We work a series of six day in a row alternating between 8 and 16 hours on-duty followed by a three-day weekend. This ultimately work out to the equivalent of working 24-hours every third day.

Shift workers average 56 hours a week and are only paid overtime for three of these hours each week, provided they do not take any leave during a four week period.

Each shift is comprised of an Assistant Chief, Lieutenant and seven Firefighters. Monday through Friday from 8am until 5pm they are supported by the Fire Chief, Fire Marshal, Training Director, and an Office Specialist.

During our off-hours, Moorhead Fire personnel voluntarily carry pagers which allow them to respond back to the station for working fires.

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Last modified: August 02, 2007