The West Manatee Fire Rescue District has three new firefighters on its roster.
After a monthlong search, interview and final decisions, firefighters/paramedics Andrew Powers, Alex Flores and Frank Agresta joined the WMFR staff Nov. 28.
Thanks to SAFER — a federal Staffing For Adequate Fire Emergency Response — grant of $564,243 received Aug. 26, salaries and benefits for the three firefighters are funded through December 2018.
After that, the cost per year to the administration will be just over $280,000. However, Chief Tom Sousa said the elimination of two positions following staff retirements earlier in 2016 leaves some room in the budget.
Sousa, who has worked at WMFR since 2006, said this is the first increase to the firefighter roster since 2004. “We’ve been running with 33 people on shift for years,” he said.
According to current state legislation, firefighters cannot enter a burning structure in less than a group of four unless they’ve confirmed there is someone inside the structure.
However, WMFR Station No. 1 in Holmes Beach, only has a three-man crew, requiring the on-duty firefighters to wait for backup from another station before performing an exploratory rescue search in a building can be performed.
The staff expansion allows WMFR to assign four firefighters per shift to Station 1.
In May, the Emergency Medical Service annual awards named Flores paramedic of the year, when he, along with Powers and Agresta, were working for Manatee County EMS.
The new firefighters, all trained paramedics, also will provide a jump-start to any advanced life support services WMFR is allowed to perform in the future.
WMFR is in ongoing negotiations with Manatee County to offer ALS services. Currently, a certificate of public convenience and necessity is needed to offer such services, and Manatee County has limited these certificates to the county EMS program.
The three new firefighters bring the total number of trained paramedics on WMFR staff to five, Sousa said.
Flores, Powers and Agresta were scheduled to begin orientation Nov. 28. The SAFER grant runs Dec. 1-Dec. 1, 2018.