Photo by Jon Anderson
A ladder truck at Fire Station No. 4 in the Liberty Park community in Vestavia Hills, Alabama.
The Vestavia Hills Fire Department has learned it has received a nearly $1.6 million federal grant that will enable the city to more quickly hire 12 additional firefighters in Liberty Park, City Manager Jeff Downes reported Monday night.
The grant from the Federal Emergency Management Agency will cover 75% of the cost of the salaries and benefits for 12 firefighters for two years and then 35% of their salaries and benefits for year three, Downes told the City Council in a work session.
If the City Council accepts the grant and agrees to cover the rest of the costs, the Fire Department now will be able to staff another vehicle with four firefighters on each of three shifts, Downes said. He expects the new firefighters could be hired as early as March or April of next year, he said.
The additional cost to the city in fiscal 2026, which starts Oct. 1 of this year and goes through Sept. 30, likely would be about $200,000, Downes said. That amount, of course, would increase over time to cover a full year’s worth of pay and benefits in fiscal 2027, and again as the federal grant amount shrinks and eventually goes away in year four, he said.
Fire Station No. 4 in Liberty Park now has 21 firefighters assigned to it — seven per shift, fire Chief Marvin Green said. But with call volumes increasing with growth in Liberty Park, more will be needed, Green said.
A $5.7 million station renovation and expansion also is in the works as the kitchen, living quarters and restrooms are made larger. Construction likely will begin by the end of this year and take 12-14 months, Green said. City officials still are trying to figure out how to handle temporary quarters during construction, Green said.
“It’s really good news,” Downes said of the grant. “It really sets into motion all of our activities to improve the emergency response on the east side of town.”
Vestavia Hills was one of only two municipalities in Alabama to receive one of the FEMA Staffing for Adequate Fire and Emergency Response grants this year, Downes said. The other was Shorter in Macon County in east-central Alabama, he said.
The city has to respond to the grant award within 30 days, so it will be on the council agenda for a vote on Oct. 13, Downes said.
