Funding is headed to the Kittery Fire Department to address two of the department’s most pressing needs — more full-time firefighters and an expansion of the Gorges Road Fire Station, Seacoastonline.com reported.
A city official Monday night alerted councilors at the Town Council meeting to new estimated costs of expanding the station, a project approved last year, and the status of an application for a federal grant that would bolster the department’s active roster, the report said.
The estimated price of expanding the Gorges Road Fire Station, a project approved by voters last year, is now $1.5 million, which is $650,000 more, according to the report. The design for the expansion project includes bays, office and bunk space for department and ambulance service members.
Budget discussions among the Town Council this spring included mention of a potential federal grant to pay for an additional eight full-time firefighters, the report said.
The town applied for a Staffing for Adequate Fire and Emergency Response (SAFER) grant, funding administered by the Federal Emergency Management Agency, with the intent of using the potential funding to staff eight additional full-time firefighters, according to the report.
If the town receives the grant, it would be on the hook to pay the firefighters’ wages and benefits after the three-year grant runs out, the report said.
The Town Council unanimously agreed to the tax rate change to support adding four full-time firefighters, the report said.
