WYOMING, Mich. — Relief could soon be on the way to the Wyoming Fire Department facing staffing shortages and aging equipment.
Whether the relief will come soon is up to city's voters to decide.
"On May 2, Wyoming residents will have the opportunity to consider a public safety millage that would allow us to increase staffing both on the police and fire side of public safety," Wyoming Public Safety Director Kimberly Koster said.
Koster talked with 13 On Your Side on Wednesday about that upcoming millage. If passed, it would provide roughly $4,000,000 to the Public Safety Department.
"Our firefighters work extremely hard to meet the needs, but we have a critical staffing issue right now," Koster said. "So, it's really important that we're able to provide service to our Division Avenue folks, and putting personnel in that station could decrease the response times in that district especially."
Koster said the millage would come to about $150 to residents for every $100,000 in taxable residence value. But with the Fire Department's current staffing of 33 full-time firefighters for a city of over 70,000, she believes providing additional resources is vital.
"Obviously, we appreciate the assistance of some of our partners and neighboring agencies," Koster said. "But, we really need to be able to staff our stations at a level where we can respond to the calls that we receive on a day-to-day basis."
13 ON YOUR SIDE toured one station with Deputy Fire Chief Dennis Van Tassell that isn't currently staffed full-time because of personnel shortages.
On top of federal dollars on the way to pay for housing quarters at the station, he said having additional staff and new equipment would make responses to emergencies in the area much faster.
"So, not only is it wear and tear on the individuals that work every day, it's also wear and tear on the equipment that we utilize to get across the city," Van Tessell said. "Having a station here that's staffed with two or three people will take nearly 1,900 calls away from the engine that responds out at 36th Street."
Should the millage not pass, both officials said the city council would need to decide what to do next.
Van Tassell, however, stressed the need for any form of relief.
"Just anytime that we can get someplace quicker, it's less damage and a fire," Van Tessell said. "And it's less medical intervention that's necessary in the long run."
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