By Anthony Kuipers
Moscow-Pullman Daily News, Moscow, Idaho
MOSCOW, Idaho — The Moscow Volunteer Fire Department is moving forward with a plan to hire three paid full-time paramedics in an effort to continue providing 24-hour service.
The Moscow Administrative Committee on Monday recommended the city council approve a FEMA grant application that would lessen the cost of the three new hires.
Moscow is working to attain a Staffing for Adequate Fire and Emergency Response grant that provides funding for fire departments to hire employees. Alissa Anderson, Moscow grants manager, said the grant request is not final, but will likely be around $1.3 million.
If awarded the grant, Moscow hopes to hire the three positions by January.
Fire Chief Brian Nickerson said his department’s volunteers unanimously voted in favor of hiring paid paramedics. Their vote was necessary because they will eventually have to foot most of the bill for the new hires using money they accumulate from billing residents for emergency transport services.
Nickerson said the Moscow Volunteer Fire Department needs the extra paramedics because its state license requires 24-hour paramedic coverage seven days a week.
City Supervisor Bill Belknap told the Daily News in February that the fire department filed a waiver with Idaho last year that states it may not be able to provide a paramedic at all times. Protocol requires the department to provide notice to all the rural emergency medical services organizations in the area anytime the Moscow Volunteer Fire Department cannot cover a shift with a paramedic.
The department has five part-time volunteer paramedics, but often the administrative staff members have to step in and cover those shifts. Nickerson said the administrative staff had to cover 51% of calls two years ago, and more than a third of calls last year.
He said this workload is “significantly burning out” the administrative staff and the volunteers.
“This would allow us to provide one person per shift 24 hours a day seven days a week to offset those times where the volunteers can’t cover,” Nickerson said.
Belknap said Monday that the SAFER grant would completely cover the cost of the new hires for the first three years. If the grant is not awarded to the city, the volunteers would have to cover that bill.
After the first three years, the city would start contributing a small percentage of the cost until it eventually becomes an 80/20 split, with the volunteers covering the majority of expenses.
“The city does not have the financial capacity to fund these positions right now,” he said.
Nickerson the median salary for paramedics in Idaho is $65,000 a year.
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