South Lane County Fire and Rescue has been awarded a “Staffing for Adequate Fire and Emergency Response (SAFER) grant to hire two paramedic firefighters for 2 years. Unlike most federal grants, this grant has no matching funds required, so essentially the District will be able to completely fund two positions for two years. The grant has a Federal share of $346,498. Funds are used to fund the entire cost of an employee including benefits.

This is by far the largest grant SLCFR has ever received, and the only grant that has ever funded fulltime positions for SLCFR. SLCFR has initiated the process to hire the new firefighters, with the support of SLCFR’s Board of Directors and Civil Service Commission. SLCFR’s Fire Chief Dean Creech states “That this grant will improve response tremendously during the daytime hours when our volunteer work force is not available”. SLCFR hopes to hire the new firefighters around March 1, 2013.

These grants were not only supported by the Board of Directors, but by Congressmen DeFazio and Senator’s Merkley and Wyden who actively support bringing Federal assistance and funds back to Oregon.

SLCFR is led by Fire Chief Dean Creech and staffed by both career and volunteer firefighters. SLCFR provides EMS response to 800 square miles and Fire response to 132 square miles of southern Lane County. SLCFR responds to over 3,000 calls for help every year, operating out of four fire stations.