Nearly $16M Grant to Let New Orleans FD Hire 62 Firefighters

New Orleans is getting $15.9 million from the federal government to hire 62 firefighters, city officials announced on Tuesday.

The grant will pay the full cost of the new hires’ salary and benefits for three years, giving the city a way to expand the New Orleans Fire Department, which firefighters have said has been understaffed for years.

“Having the grant award to pay for a three-year period allows us the cushion to pay for it,” Mayor LaToya Cantrell said of the Staffing for Adequate Fire and Emergency Response Grant at a press conference on Tuesday. “We knew we needed to grow our department and this was the best way to do it.”

Staffing has long been a concern at the NOFD. Under former Mayor Mitch Landrieu, budget cuts required the department to scale back the number of firefighters assigned to each truck, something the firefighters’ union objected to because it meant more vehicles had to arrive at a scene before there were enough personnel to safely enter buildings.

More recently, firefighters refused to work overtime shifts during this year's Carnival parades, denying the city the ability to fill gaps in its scheduling caused due to staff shortages. In addition to complaints about staff levels, firefighters also raised issues with their pension system and the method used to calculate overtime payments.

The grant-funded firefighters will come on top of the departments existing staffing of 580 and all will be assigned to front-line duties. The new recruits would initially put the department a bit over the 635 positions they have budgeted for in this year’s spending plan, NOFD Superintendent Tim McConnell said.

“Those folks, every one of them will go right onto the fire trucks,” McConnell said. “It makes our staffing levels go up as we get them in the door.”

What the department's overall staffing level will be over the course of the grant remains to be seen, however. McConnell said the department loses about two firefighters each month to retirement and said it was unknown how much money the department would have to replace them.

The fire department, like the rest of the city, is bracing for a budget crunch next year given the predicted $120 million drop in sales tax and other revenues the city is bracing for as a result of coronavirus restrictions and the related drop-off in tourism. Those factors have caused administration officials to call on departments to submit spending plans that include a 20% cut from the level at which they started the year.

“The goal is to keep our staffing as high as possible, but we understand that there are some question marks right now,” McConnell said.

The fire department already has 15 potential recruits moving through the hiring process and expects to start its next training when it can fill a class of 25 or 30. It will have 180 days to bring the full complement of recruits on before the clock starts ticking on the grant, McConnell said.

After the grant period is over, the city will have to find the money to pay the firefighters out of its general fund, McConnell said.

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