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Mid Hudson Times, Wednesday, January 9, 2019
City reinstates five firefighters through SAFER grant
By KATELYN CORDERO
[email protected]
The City of Newburgh Fire Department
finally swore in the returning five
firefighters after waiting months for
the 2019 budget to go through. The five
firefighters were laid off in 2018 when
the Federal Emergency Management
Agency’s Staffing for Adequate Fire and
Emergency Response (SAFER) program
ended.
With the help of legislators and
politicians the SAFER grant was awarded
to the department for the third time. The
City of Newburgh approved the grant
in October covering nine firefighting
positions for the next three years. The
grant was contingent on the City of
Newburgh matching 25 percent of the
grant for the first two years and 65 percent
for 2021.
Firefighters could not go back on their
post until the city’s 2019 contribution
was allocated in the budget. The first two
years of the contributions are budgeted
by the city, but the 65 percent for 2021 is
yet to be accounted for.
Matthew Kneeter, William Gordon,
Levi Miles, Matthew Gayton, Joseph
Bedetti and Chris Baum returned to
the department after being laid off. The
remaining four positions will be filled
after they go through the interview
process. They must pass an agility test,
complete a background questionnaire
Five firefighters who were laid off last year were reinstated last week.
and go through interviews. Chief Ahlers
hopes to fill the positions by the second
week of February.
The NFPA (National Fire Protection
Association) standards call for 15
firefighters for the initial dispatch of
a two story single family home. With
the five additional firefighters the City
of Newburgh Fire Department are still
nowhere near those standards.
“We are not at the standards, but
these additional guys bring us up to 4
firefighters per truck on each shift,” said
Ahlers. “It gives us one additional person
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Bob McCormick
Police responded to a personal injury accident Tuesday at the intersection of Route 300 and
Meadow Avenue in the Town of Newburgh. Further information was not available at press
time.
Houlihan Lawrence LaGrange
LaGrangeville, NY 12540