The Boerne Fire Department is gearing up for expansion with a nearly $2 million grant from the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA). As reported by My Boerne News, the financial boost comes through the Staffing for Adequate Fire and Emergency Response (SAFER) program and aims to facilitate the addition of six full-time firefighters to the department's ranks. This influx of manpower is timely, as Boerne is on the cusp of unveiling its second fire station in a push to keep up with the city's rapid growth.
"This grant is a tremendous boost for our fire department," Boerne Fire Chief Manny Casarez told My Boerne News. With the SAFER grant providing $1,958,373 spread over the next three years starting March 2025, the department aims to reach national staffing standards. "We’ve got three years’ worth of firefighters' salaries covered," Casarez noted, highlighting the significance of the grant as Boerne braces for evolution, and emergency infrastructure expansion.
The additional hands are not merely for numbers; they’re set to enhance the fire department’s ability to provide 24/7 emergency coverage over its service region of 200 square miles. The potency of this grant will see immediate results, evident in decreased response times upon completion of the new fire station, as Lt. Toby Vicknair emphasized, "We will be able to cut down on call times almost immediately once that station is built," in a statement gleaned from My Boerne News.
With a tenure extending back to his days as a volunteer in 2010, Vicknair has a deeply entrenched perspective on the department's trajectory and the criticality of readiness for a future that is already here. "We collaborate across so many different fields — streets, drainage, water, sewage, gas calls – all of that," he said. "We can get everything ready so when we hit the ground running with station two, there’s no hitches," Vicknair told My Boerne News. The SAFER grant is instrumental not just for Boerne but also for departments across the country struggling with staffing shortages and increasing complexities of emergency response.
