BY MARK MCGEE
It was Christmas in February for Shelbyville Fire Chief Matt Doak.
During the regular February meeting, the Shelbyville City Council unanimously approved the addition of three additional firefighters. For the fiscal year 2025 the budget cost will be $77,001.67. The annual budget impact will be $231,005.
In addition, Council members voted 6-0 to accept a $29,999.99 Firehouse Public Safety Foundation Grant for the first quarter of 2025 from Firehouse Subs. The funds will be used to purchase a Can-Am Defender Limited ATV.
The additional three fire fighter positions will allow Doak to have full shifts at all three fire stations.
Doak has applied for several years for grants from the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) for hiring personnel, but has never been able to receive funding.
“FEMA has a SAFER Grant (The Staffing for Adequate Fire and Emergency Response Grants) where you can apply for personnel for a growing community,” Doak said. “It is for hiring and payroll…all the basic things to help you hire personnel, get them trained and on board.
“Prior to my administration in 2014 FEMA provided funding for three positions for three years. We have applied every year since 2019 for additional manpower. We have been unsuccessful. The City Council has added one person per shift per year through a budget amendment each year we have been unsuccessful with FEMA.
Doak pointed out the FEMA grants only provide funding for three years. The additions by the City Council, like the three added this month, are permanent hires.
“We had a study done, which I presented to the City Council in 2019, that we needed four fire fighters per shift,” Doak said. “This is the three final personnel additions we needed. It is a win for the citizens, for the ISO and the quality of personnel. We have been behind because of the growth of the city. No one has hit the brakes. They are hitting the gas.
“FEMA looks at the finances. In addition, the city is managed well. We are a frugal city and our department heads are frugal. If it is fluff, we don’t do it. The city looks good on paper and I think that is bad for us. I think that is one of the reasons we haven’t received the FEMA grant.”
There are three shifts during each 24-hour period.
“We have recommendations and then we have rules,” Doak said. “OHSH has regulations where if you send two people into a building there has to be two people outside. At the end of the day, that is the law of the land.
“We way we had to operate since 2020 is we have Station One on Lane Parkway, Station Two on Hillcrest and Station Three at the airport. The airport, because of decisions year ago with the business park and Vanderbilt Hospital and other businesses out there we have a strong need for fire protection. Because Station Three is so far away from Stations One and Two we have to have four people there for every shift.
“Station One has the bulk of the manpower. We had to sacrifice by having only three at Hillcrest. We can support Station Two with Station One people to have two in and two out. At Station One we have eight per shift, including one shift commander. That has been hard having them out there not fully staffed at Hillcrest. We are still going to be at the minimum with what we need with the three new people.”
The addition of the ATV will help with fires in wilderness areas or in tricky terrain.
“For special events like the Celebration or fireworks or special events on the square we have has a need for a smaller vehicle,” Doak said. “We are taking in more wild land as the city gets bigger where accessibility is not great. We will have the ability to operate off road. We have a bunch of men and women who are almost done with their certification for wild land firefighting.”
