Cahaba Valley Fire receives $450,000 grant

Thanks to a recently awarded grant, the Cahaba Valley Fire District will be able to make additions to and refine its staff to further increase their performance and response efficiency. 

The $450,000 grant was awarded Aug. 24 and came from the Staffing For Adequate Fire and Emergency Response (SAFER) Grant Program, which is managed by the U.S. Department of Homeland Security. The grant is given to different fire departments around the country  to ensure they are able to have an adequate staff, as well as the resources to best serve the district they protect.

The grant’s funds are designated for recruitment, hiring and retention of fire and emergency response personnel.

“We believe our constant striving for improvement has been recognized in the awarding of this grant,” said Grant Wilkinson, public information officer for the Cahaba Valley Fire District.

According to Wilkinson, in November 2015 the Cahaba Valley Fire District’s Public Protection Classification (PPC) went from 4/9 to 2/2x. The PPC is a score utilized by the Insurance Service Office that ranks the performance of fire departments around the nation. The CVFD’s rating is just one level below the highest in the nation, and that score also helps lower the insurance rates for home and business owners in the district.

The grant money will assist the Cahaba Valley Fire District in its own recruiting and retention, specifically helping it to hire three additional firefighters and fund those salaries. 

Wilkinson said the department is looking for qualified firefighters and paramedics to fill the positions. 

The new additions, in particular, will serve as the staff for an additional rescue unit, on call 24/7 at Station 181 on U.S. 280 at Doug Baker Boulevard, and enable Mt Laurel’s Station 183 to have three firefighters available per shift instead of the two firefighters currently available.

“Having an additional firefighter at Station 183 will potentially allow for the station to respond with both their engine and rescue units to calls. Additionally, this station will be able to use that same additional resource to respond, when needed, to the other coverage areas of the district without lowering the department’s ability to respond in Station 183’s coverage,” Wilkinson said. “An additional benefit to the department will be a shifting of personnel to allow Station 181 to staff an additional rescue unit on a 24/7 basis.”

Wilkinson said although the fire district is consistently rising to the challenge of servicing the rapidly growing northern Shelby County area, more personnel are needed to help them. 

“At a certain point, we must put more personnel on staff and make more apparatus available to support the ever growing population,” he said.

Individuals interested in the firefighter positions can find more information on the Cahaba Valley Fire District Facebook page, as well as by contacting Capt. Barry Casey at barry.casey@cahabavalleyfire.org.