ATLANTA — Atlanta City Council members gave the green light to nearly $20 million for equipment needed as the fire department grapples with critical shortages.
The money will be used to purchase apparatus and vehicles for the Atlanta Fire Rescue Department.
The funds will be spent on 12 new engines, three battalion chief vehicles, two new tractor-drawn aerial trucks and one platform truck.
This new wave of funds comes after three firehouses had to temporarily close because they were down eight engines. Atlanta City Council public safety committee chair Dustin Hillis sponsored the legislation that he said would serve as a first step to addressing years of equipment shortfalls.
“This is very vital to the public safety of Atlanta, its citizens, visitors," Hillis said. “This covers a total replacement of their self-contained breathing apparatus, which is what keeps our firefighters alive and breathing when they go into those fires. Our heart monitors and AED’s across the Atlanta Fire Rescue Department will also be replenished as those are out of date. They have to have the vehicles they need to respond to medical accidents, incidents, motor vehicle accidents, and of course fires, HAZMAT situations.”
Chief Roderick Smith with the fire department explained last month to the public safety committee how the department is down 17 trucks, with 25% of their engines unable to run a call and 60% of their ladder trucks out of service.
"Personnel are coming to the call. You just don't have the ladder trucks there, which is a soft closing for us based on the staffing and equipment," Smith previously said.
Station 30 is one of the recent stations that had a soft closing. It's located on Cleveland Avenue, an area where Councilman Antonio Lewis represents.
Nate Bailey, president of the Atlanta Professional Firefighters and 20-year veteran of AFR, said the funding was a huge relief for the department. According to Hillis, the department was still down about 200 firefighters and an aging equipment arsenal and fleet have spread crews thin.
“You usually don’t see this type of legislation in the middle of the budget year, but given the factory lead time and how long it takes to get the trucks, and having so many repairs at one time, it’s awesome and great that the administration is going to pass this legislation with full council support," Bailey said. “You want to serve. It’s a calling. Firefighting isn’t a job. No one wakes up and says I think I’ll try firefighting. You want to be a firefighter and serve. It’s a calling, and this equipment, this apparatus allows us to save lives.”
Despite the shortages, Smith said firefighters are still answering and arriving to calls but without all the needed equipment. Hillis said due to national backlogs in the supply chain, it could take up to 36 months to get the new vehicles and equipment in the hands of Atlanta firefighters. But half a dozen vehicles previously ordered were expected to be installed into the fleet over the next couple of months.
"It is an issue that I'm sure it does you more than anyone; it keeps me up at night, very honestly. You have no idea," Hillis said. "We’ll be working with the Department of Public Works, which maintains all the city’s fleet, to try and expedite the repairs of the engines and trucks we already have. It is one large investment, but it’s just the beginning. We have much more work to do.”