{"id":1855,"date":"2022-12-07T15:07:00","date_gmt":"2022-12-07T20:07:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.merkley.senate.gov\/federal-grant-approved-to-restore-portland-fire-and-rescue-positions\/"},"modified":"2023-07-24T11:04:40","modified_gmt":"2023-07-24T15:04:40","slug":"federal-grant-approved-to-restore-portland-fire-and-rescue-positions","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.merkley.senate.gov\/es\/federal-grant-approved-to-restore-portland-fire-and-rescue-positions\/","title":{"rendered":"Federal grant approved to restore Portland Fire and Rescue positions"},"content":{"rendered":"

PORTLAND, Ore. (KOIN<\/a>) \u2013
\nThe Portland City Council unanimously voted to accept $2.1 million in federal
\ngrant money at Wednesday’s meeting to fund the hiring of six additional
\nPortland Fire and Rescue firefighters for the next three years.<\/p>\n

The added firefighters, Portland Fire and Rescue Deputy
\nChief Ryan Gillespie told the council, will staff the two positions that were
\npreviously cut from the budget during the 2019-2020 fiscal year. The lost
\npositions required PFR firefighters to work
\nmandatory overtime<\/a> – overtime that is currently costing the city
\napproximately $20
\nmillion per year<\/a>. These working conditions prompted the local firefighters union<\/a> to
\nfile an unfair labor practice complaint against the city.<\/p>\n

The complaint was ultimately settled and the city agreed to
\napply for the FEMA Staffing for Adequate Fire and Emergency Response or
\n“SAFER” grant in order to fill two missing engine crew positions at
\nStation 23 in Southeast Portland. <\/p>\n

“The six positions that will be funded through the
\nSAFER Grant will allow us to fully staff Station 23 with a four-person engine
\ncompany on all three shifts, thus implementing one of the essential deployment
\nrecommendations,” Gillespie said.<\/p>\n

The city was rejected for the FEMA grant when it applied for
\nthe first time in 2020 but was successfully chosen to receive the funds on its
\nsecond try in October of 2022. PFR Chief Sara Boone told commissioners the
\ngrant approval was made possible through added support from local lawmakers.<\/p>\n

“Senator [Ron] Wyden and [Senator Jeff] Merkley were
\nadvocates for PFR in receiving this grant and we were successful this time
\naround,” Boone said.<\/p>\n

 PFR Management Services Director Kezia Wanner said the
\nfunding will help address the department’s staffing needs which are a result of
\nthe city\u2019s already-strapped general fund.<\/p>\n

“It will improve the bureau\u2019s ability to respond to
\nfire, medical and all hazard emergencies, which will increase rates of
\nsurvivability in cases of fire and medical emergencies,” Kezia said.
\n“And it will decrease the severity of property damage in cases of fire and
\nwill ensure that the public has appropriate emergency services available, when
\nneeded.”<\/p>\n

The newly funded positions are expected to be filled by
\nMarch of 2023. An independent
\nstudy <\/a>conducted by the government consulting firm Citygate Associates
\nin May of 2022 found that the City of Portland would need to create 16
\nfull-time positions and add an additional fire station in Southeast Portland in
\norder to adequately serve the city\u2019s needs.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n

“We are already in a [critical] deficit when it comes
\nto our staffing,” Boone said “That\u2019s why we went out for the grant.
\nWe are not meeting our performance standards to date.”<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

PORTLAND, Ore. (KOIN) \u2013 The Portland City Council unanimously voted to accept $2.1 million in federal grant money at Wednesday’s meeting to fund the hiring of six additional Portland Fire and Rescue firefighters for the next three years. The added firefighters, Portland Fire and Rescue Deputy Chief Ryan Gillespie told the council, will staff the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"inline_featured_image":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[26],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1855","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-in-the-news"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nFederal grant approved to restore Portland Fire and Rescue positions - Merkley<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.merkley.senate.gov\/es\/federal-grant-approved-to-restore-portland-fire-and-rescue-positions\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"es_MX\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Federal grant approved to restore Portland Fire and Rescue positions - Merkley\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"PORTLAND, Ore. 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