Thanks to Mississippi Valley Montessori School for their support. Located in West St. Paul since 1967, they’re an AMI-accredited Montessori school serving children up to age 6. Email us for more info.
The Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) awarded South Metro Fire, which serves West St. Paul and South St. Paul, a $3.4 million grant to hire eight additional firefighters.
Why: A 2023 study recommended South Metro Fire add eight firefighters, and the board had a plan to add that staff over the next three years.
- “The grant will allow South Metro to accelerate our staffing plan by adding all eight firefighters in 2025,” said South Metro Fire Chief Mark Juelfs.
Staffing: The grant will bring the total South Metro Fire firefighter team to 48, with three 24-hour rotating shifts of 16 firefighters each. South Metro has seven other employees, for a total staff of 55.
Budget: The grant pays for salary and benefits for three years. Then the salaries will be absorbed into the budget, which was the board’s original plan anyway.
Hiring: South Metro Fire is accepting applications for the new positions, though they already have several candidates on a hiring list and over 20 candidates to interview at the end of the month.
- “While hiring this many firefighters at once can be a challenge, we believe South Metro is a great fire department and we won’t have a significant challenge finding quality candidates,” said Juelfs.
Grant: The funding comes from FEMA’s Staffing For Adequate Fire and Emergency Response (SAFER) program, started in 2004. This year it awarded $360 million nationally.
- “The grant is very competitive with only three departments in Minnesota awarded grants for this fiscal year,” said Juelfs. “I was optimistic but also thought it was a long shot. In years past it appeared that the larger staffing requests were awarded more often than smaller staffing requests such as ours.”
- Bloomington and Lakeville were the other Minnesota fire departments awarded grants this year. A total of 27 agencies in Minnesota have won the grant since 2015.
We cover local news thanks to the support of our members. Join now to support our work.
