In response to increasing medical calls, the Keene City Council Thursday approved using $490,000 from the city’s unassigned fund balance to allow the fire department to have two more staff members per shift through the end of the fiscal year. That change means the department will be able to have three ambulances staffed each shift instead of two.

Ward Five Councilor Thomas Powers said the move was an effort to respond to increasing demand for ambulance service.

“Every day, it just continues to increase … The reality is, we’re being called — as is every other fire department around us — for an ambulance every single day, and if we don’t have people there or people coming in, we can’t answer. And that’s not the right thing to do,” Powers said.

The unassigned fund balance is a part of the city’s general fund that is not restricted or earmarked for any specific purpose and can be spent at the council’s discretion.

“This is what we put money away for,” Powers said Thursday evening. “We don’t go [to the fund] every day, we go there sparingly for these kinds of situations.”

IAFF Local 3265 President Rob Skrocki said in January the department’s staffing levels were “dangerous” and “unsustainable.”

The department took about 6,348 calls in Keene and other communities in 2024, up from 4,286 a decade before. According to Skrocki, the department is staffed to handle roughly 3,500 calls per year.

The department is currently staffed to maintain a minimum shift staffing of 10.

According to the union, Keene Fire called in off-duty staff more than 300 times last year. That’s usually a sign the entire duty shift is committed with no additional units available. Having an additional ambulance staffed per shift should help the department avoid having all units committed as often, although it will not reduce the workload on staff.

The $490,000 will cover wage and overtime expenses and benefits for the additional shift staffing level through June.

City Manager Elizabeth Ferland said nursing home calls have contributed to the rise in call volume. She told city councilors Thursday she approached Cheshire EMS, the county-wide ambulance service owned by Cheshire County, about potentially taking over those calls from the Keene Fire Department. Cheshire EMS was not in a position to do so, she said. Cheshire EMS Chief Mark Kreamer confirmed that stance to The Sentinel Friday.

The council’s unanimous approval of the motion was met with the sound of horns and sirens from the street.

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The City Council also referred to the council’s Finance, Organization and Personnel Committee a request for an additional $70,000 to fund the hiring of four new firefighters through the end of the fiscal year.

The department has at least four firefighter candidates in the pipeline, according to a Thursday memorandum from Fire Chief Jason Martin, which would help expedite hiring if that additional funding is ultimately approved.

In February, the council authorized applying for a 2024 FEMA SAFER Grant, which would fully fund four firefighters per shift, for 16 total positions, for a three-year period. The city would cov

Hannah Shields
Wyoming Tribune-Eagle, Cheyenne
(TNS)

CHEYENNE — The Laramie County Fire Authority needs $250,000 in emergency mineral royalty grant funding from the state to rebuild a fire station that burned down in mid-January. But whether it gets that money depends on the outcome of an emergency meeting of the State Loan and Investment Board (SLIB) next week.

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LCFA Chief Jason Caughey waited nearly nine hours Thursday on an empty stomach — minus a handful of City Drug popcorn provided by the governor — to sway the state’s top five elected officials to approve the application. A staff member from the Office of State Lands and Investments told SLIB members a few documents were missing from LCFA’s application — but Caughey assured members the missing documents were available.

SLIB Chairman Gov. Mark Gordon proposed holding an emergency meeting next week to review the application once all the documents are collected. For Caughey, time is money.

The construction process for Fire Station 74 has already begun with the funds supplied by the insurance company, Caughey said. But insurance only covered 68% of total construction costs, and the county fire authority depleted its reserves to replace machinery lost in the fire.

If the state doesn’t provide the emergency funding, then LCFA will have to take out a loan, which means paying an additional 5.5% to 7% interest rate, Caughey said, and local taxpayers will be burdened with the cost.

Why now?

The Laramie County Planning Department utilizes an emergency building permit program in the event of a natural disaster or fire, Caughey said. If the facility is rebuilt within one year, “it doesn’t have to jump through all of the same hoops that a normal building process would.”

“By not being able to complete this project within one year, it’s going to cost us and the taxpayers a significant amount more money,” Caughey said. “To rebuild that same existing station today, I anticipate 25% more.”

In mid-January, Laramie County firefighters responded to a structure fire at one of their own stations, Fire Station 74 on Yellowstone Road. Three wildland firefighter trucks were lost, along with the station itself.

Caughey submitted an application for emergency mineral royalty grant (MRG) funding a week before the deadline.

The Office of State Lands and Investments (OSLI) approved the LCFA’s project application but found it did not constitute “emergency” MRG funds. The OSLI recommended deferring the fire authority’s application for regular MRG funds, which would be approved during the SLIB’s special meeting on June 20.

The Wyoming State Fire Marshal’s Office and Wyoming State Forestry Division also did not believe the application qualified for emergency funding from the state.

In a combined letter to SLIB members, these officials found the cost of this project “appears to fall within the funds available to the district to construct without additional financial assistance,” among other reasons to disqualify it for emergency funds.

But, according to Caughey, the LCFA is “pinching pennies.” Aside from their depleted reserves, the LCFA took a major hit from a new property tax cut bill that was recently passed by the Wyoming Legislature.

“This year, we’ve lost 25% of our revenue from property tax,” Caughey said, “which doesn’t sound significant, but it’s $250,000 out of our $2 million budget.”

Salaries eat up 80% of the fire authority’s total budget, he

RACINE — Racine residents voted Tuesday in favor of a $1.5 million annual property tax levy increase that will provide funding to the Racine Fire Department.

Starting with December 2025 bills, property taxes will increase by $31 per $100,000 of assessed home value each year.

The levy will provide the department with the necessary funds to maintain nine paramedic/EMT positions.

These positions are currently being paid for by a federal grant that expires in spring 2026.

“We are eternally and deeply grateful for the outpouring of community support to maintain an extremely high level of medical services to the citizens of Racine,” Racine Fire Chief Steve Hansen said.

In a Facebook post, Racine Professional Firefighters Local 321 wrote that the community’s backing demonstrates its “commitment to safety and the well-being of all residents.”

According to the City of Racine, RFD has operated with 141 full-time staff members for years. With staffing remaining the same, there were 12,514 calls for emergency services in 2024, which is a 50% increase since 2005.

Hansen said this funding will allow the department to maintain its current staffing model for paramedic ambulances.

“What many citizens do not realize is our paramedic ambulance crews also do firefighting on all structure fires,” he said.

The crews on these ambulances perform what the department calls primary search and rescue of anyone trapped in a fire, which Hansen said is an “exceptional benefit” because residents are “getting double duty” from the paramedics.

If the referendum had not passed, he said, the department would have had to downsize its paramedic crews, which would increase response times and decrease service levels.

“We would also (have) been placed in a position where we needed to send extra first responder crews to assist paramedic crews on medical emergencies,” he said. “Sending first responders takes staffing away from the next medical or fire emergency that occurs.”

With the referendum passing, Hansen said the department will be able to continue providing “an exceptionally high level of service” for fire and medical emergencies.

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“Both firefighting and medical emergencies require a physical presence of firefighters and paramedics,” Hansen said. “Unfortunately we cannot throw a computer at a fire or medical emergency and hope it takes care of the issue.”

For Hansen, bringing the highest medical care available to patients, quickly starting treatment and transporting them to an emergency room is the department’s standard.

“We give all our citizens an exceptional fighting chance of survival by having our highly skilled paramedics on scene,” he said.<

The Fort Walton Beach Fire Department (FWBFD) held a dedication/push-in ceremony for its new engine Thursday, April 3.

The 2025 Pierce Saber pumper replaces Station No. 7’s current engine, a dedicated front-line apparatus that has served the city for the past 10 years. The old engine will go into reserve and serve as a backup for the department’s three main firefighting vehicles.

The new Engine 7 was dedicated to retired Firefighter Calvin “P-Nut” Pina, who served with the Fort Walton Beach Fire Department for 32 years before retiring as driver/engineer in 2008.

“We congratulate Mr. Pina and thank him for more than three decades of service to the residents of Fort Walton Beach,” the city said in a Facebook post.

“Each FWBFD apparatus is dedicated to someone close to the department,” the fire department said. “Usually (it’s) a retired member, or someone who has had a major influence on FWBFD. The new Engine 7 was dedicated to retired Firefighter Calvin ‘P-Nut’ Pina, who served for the FWBFD for 32 years before retiring in 2008.”

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