Bardstown city council gets details on fire dept.’s $635,000 grant

By JIM BROOKS
Nelson County Gazette / WBRT Radio

Tuesday, Oct. 11, 2016, 11:55 p.m. — The Bardstown Fire Department has been awarded a $633,746 grant that will help the department recruit and retain volunteer firefighters.

Bardstown Fire Department Capt. Todd Spalding explains the SAFER grant the fire department has received that will help equip, recruit and retain volunteer firefighters.

Capt. Todd Spalding told the Bardstown City Council Tuesday night the FEMA grant — Staffing for Adequate Firefighter and Emergency Response (SAFER) — will help the fire department retain their existing pool of volunteers, and recruit and train the next generation of volunteer firefighters.

Volunteers are still important to the full-time fire department’s firefighting capability, Spalding said. The grant will help relieve some of the cost of equipping and training volunteer firefighters. The grant will purchase personal protection gear for seven firefighters per year, as well as the cost of physicals and training.

The grant — spread over four years — will also pay for a recruitment and retention coordinator, who will also be a fulltime firefighter, he said. The department currently has 16 of its 17 authorized positions filled. The 17th firefighter position will have his or her salary paid by the grant for four years.

The grant does not require a matching contribution from the city, Spalding explained.

In other business, the council:

— approved making the intersection of East John Fitch and First Street a 3-way stop.

— heard a request from Councilwoman Kecia Copeland regarding an inoperative street light on South Fourth Street, and the need for an additional light on the street. Public Works Director Larry Hamilton said he would take a look at it.

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