NY City Receives Grant after FF Layoffs

Sept. 05 -- CITY OF NEWBURGH, NY -- The City of Newburgh's fire department will receive a third grant from a federal program after the depletion of funds from the second grant forced the city to lay off five firefighters at the end of July.

Senate Minority Leader Charles Schumer, Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand and Rep. Sean Patrick Maloney announced Wednesday the Federal Emergency Management Agency approval of Newburgh's application for $1.5 million from the agency's Staffing for Adequate Fire & Emergency Response program, which funds new hires for fire departments nationwide.

A dozen Newburgh firefighters were initially identified for layoffs this summer as the second grant wound down and the city claimed that its improved finances were still not strong enough to absorb all the extra salaries and benefits into the budget.

Newburgh's Council eventually voted to take on the costs for three firefighters and apply for FEMA funding to cover the other nine positions. Three of those to be laid off found jobs with the Arlington Fire District, and another layoff was prevented when a veteran firefighter retired.

Newburgh is expected to use the new three-year grant to rehire all or some of the five firefighters who were let go.

"Victory for Newburgh," Schumer said. "The Newburgh Fire Department plays an absolutely essential role in their community – they need these firefighters back on the job ASAP."

Getting a third SAFER grant was considered a long shot. But in letters to Department of Homeland Security Secretary Kirstjen M. Nielsen and FEMA, Gillibrand, Maloney and Schumer highlighted the fire department's responsibilities in a city with aging housing and an area with major facilities.

In March 2017, city firefighters were among the emergency personnel responding to a major CSX train derailment just inside the border separating Newburgh from New Windsor.

In November 2017, eight Newburgh firefighters were injured in the second of two explosions during a fire at the Verla International cosmetics factory in New Windsor. City firefighters also respond to boating emergencies on the Hudson River.

"Everyone knows you need a full staff of firefighters to protect your city – but especially here in Newburgh where our guys are out responding to other emergencies in the area – like the Verla fire," Maloney said.

The layoffs' roots go back to September 2013, when city and fire department officials announced that FEMA had approved a $2.4 million SAFER grant underwriting 15 new firefighters.

The extra manpower from the grant, which allowed the department to raise its personnel level from 55 to 70, led to a quicker and more forceful response in which fires have been extinguished before buildings are totally lost, acting Chief Terry Ahlers said in December.

The number of incidents in which the department had to call for additional manpower after the initial response fell from "20-plus incidents to less than 10 per year;" injuries due to short staffing were "pretty much eliminated;" and more fire safety violations were being caught because the department had devoted more men and time to inspections, Ahlers said.

The expectation was that Newburgh would be positioned financially to assume the costs of the extra firefighters by the time the first grant ran out in 2016, but city officials said they were unable to absorb the new salaries and benefits.

In July 2016, FEMA gave Newburgh a second grant for $2 million that would be used to prevent layoffs of a dozen firefighters.

Councilwoman Patty Sofokles was "so happy" when told about the new award. The city would "absolutely" look to rehire the five men laid off, she said.

"I don't know what the answer is yet, but we are working on it diligently," she said. "If we start planning now, maybe we'll come up with something. We have to."

___ (c)2018 The Times Herald-Record, Middletown, N.Y. Visit The Times Herald-Record, Middletown, N.Y. at www.recordonline.com Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.