ENGLEWOOD, N.J.—Englewood has agreed to maintain fire department staffing at 49 firefighters—five more than the current roster—for the duration of a three-year $607,000 Federal Emergency Management Agency grant, while pending litigation brought by 10 firefighters suing for “wrongful termination” appears to be nearing resolution.
Current department staffing is 44 firefighters.
FEMA grant officials told Northern Valley Press that FEMA and Englewood had agreed that the city must maintain at least 49 firefighters as a “maintenance level/staffing number” for the grant’s three-year timeline.
The agreement between the city and FEMA SAFER (Staffing for Adequate Fire and Emergency Response) grant officials was confirmed by a FEMA spokesperson, though he could not provide any comment on previous city budgeting for up to 59 firefighters, as stated repeatedly in their federal grant application.
However, the city can certainly hire additional firefighters, said FEMA officials.
The terminated firefighters’ lawsuit alleges the city illegally fired 15 firefighters last April after the city “conditionally” hired them in January 2019 and then said they could not start at the county Fire Academy due to an unapproved budget.
In addition, the lawsuit alleges the firefighters were fired due to calls from the Jabari Society, an association representing African American firefighters, and other groups, calling for a new firefighter exam and hiring preference for residents in early 2019.
Whether Englewood funds additional firefighter positions above the 49 required—possible in the 2020 budget—could be decided soon due to both ongoing lawsuit negotiations and upcoming department budget requests.
Overtime covers hiring
Two attorneys for the 10 terminated firefighters maintain that the city’s near-doubling of firefighters’ overtime budget in 2019 would easily cover the hiring of 10 new firefighters at approximately $38,000 annually, with funds to spare. The overtime budget was increased in 2019 when firefighters were not hired as planned, said officials.
Preliminary 2019 city budget documents stated that 11 firefighters were planned to be hired, together with four grant-funded firefighters.
The proposed 11 firefighters to be hired were publicly cited by former City Manager Ed Hynes and Fire Chief Erik Enersen, as well as included in the city’s SAFER $607,659 grant application.
The grant, officially accepted by council members Dec. 10, 2019, funds hiring four firefighters for three years, 75 percent for years one and two, and 35 percent funding in year three.
FEMA officials said though fire departments are not required to maintain positions, most do following grant expiration.
In its grant application, the number of 59 firefighters was determined necessary for Englewood to provide adequate fire protection based on National Fire Protection Association (NFPA) standards.
Additional justification?
FEMA officials said if firefighter numbers between a grant application and current staffing showed “any significant variances” that additional justification might be required.
Questions to FEMA to determine whether the city needed to provide such justification were not returned by press time.
Current staffing numbers are 44 firefighters, as opposed to the 55 firefighters the city said it would hire in the grant.
Since council voted to accept the federal SAFER funds Dec. 10, it appears a federally-mandated 180-day recruitment period began then and once firefighters are hired—that would be four in Englewood’s case—the three-year grant period may begin.
If the hires are in place prior to 180 days, grant recipients must amend the grant’s timeline.
‘New, additional firefighters’
“According to the SAFER Notice of Funding Opportunity, SAFER funds may only be used to hire new, additional firefighters or change the status of part-time or paid-on-call firefighters to full-time firefighters,” a FEMA spokesperson told Northern Valley Press.
“Only full-time positions are eligible for funding. Since the SAFER program seeks to enhance incident scene safety, recipients must agree to make the primary assignments (more than 50 percent of time) of all SAFER-funded firefighters on an operational fire suppression vehicle, regardless of their collateral duties,” the spokesperson added.
According to people familiar with the matter, the city’s firefighter exam three-year eligibility list expired in November 2019; it was unclear if the city could extend the list’s viability.
Whether residency preference may apply to the FEMA grant hires was also not clear.
Also uncertain was whether city residents would still be eligible for a six-point exam bonus when taking the Englewood firefighter exam, which was previously provided before the city’s adoption of a residency preference ordinance in May 2019.
Chief’s concerns
“It should also be noted that staffing levels in the Englewood Fire Department fall well below the minimum staffing recommendations set forth by the National Fire Protection Agency (NFPA),” wrote Fire Chief Erik Enersen in his 2019 budget narrative.
He said staffing had fallen from 55 firefighters in 2015 to 44 in 2019, plus retirements of two lieutenants in 2017 that led to increased overtime costs and a planned 2019 lieutenant’s retirement.
The chief said the “issues of greatest concern” for 2019 were staffing and replacing aging fire apparatus.
Efforts to determine when a 2020 fire department budget will be presented could not be confirmed by press time.