The Danville City Council Public Services Committee has passed along to the full City Council the fire department’s application for the three year SAFER grant, which can help bring in additional personnel. Danville Fire Chief Aaron Marcott says this is a three year grant, which Danville last received in 2018.
AUDIO: When it comes to fire service grants, there’s really three big ones. We’ve always applied for one called AFG, and we got that one last year. It paid for equipment and training and things like that. SAFER, the one we’re asking to apply for this year, is about personnel. With the hopes that we can add personnel to get us closer to compliance for responses and the number of people that respond to a fire. We also expect to go through some retirements over the next few years, so SAFER kind of does that for us.
Chief Marcott says they hope to have an answer by late summer.
Meanwhile, the Danville Fire Department fought two structure fires on Monday of this week, one near Short and Williams and the other on Buchanan Street. The chief says on that day, yes, they were battling the wind as well as the fire.
AUDIO: (It) speeds up the progress of the fire, can start other fires down range; grass fires, especially when you have dry conditions as well. (It) kind of feeds the fire in a sense; makes it burn a little hotter, burn a little faster, can really hamper firefighters. What would be normal to stop a fire becomes just a little more challenging.
Chief Marcott says both firefighters that had minor injuries from the Short Street fire are doing well.
