Tomball Fire department to add nine firefighters through grant

Photo by Staff Photo

Nine full-time firefighters will be joining the Tomball Fire Department in February courtesy of a grant from the Department of Homeland Security.

The $1.25 million grant will pay the firefighters' salaries and benefits for two years, Tomball Fire Chief Randy Parr said. After that, the city is responsible for paying the salaries, or has the option to dissolve the new positions.

The new positions will have a significant impact on the department's effectiveness and response time, Parr said at a Aug. 6 Tomball City Council meeting.

"Right now, we can only guarantee that there will be two firefighters on the streets at any point in time, day or night," he said. "By allowing us to get these additional nine firefighters, we will have five full-time positions filled on a 24-hour basis."

National standards for fire departments specify that it takes 15 people to effectively fight a fire on a 2,000 square foot structure. TFD will still fall short of that standard, but with five full-time firefighters and one part-time, it will be able to respond to fires from both stations with the minimum three people needed to operate each truck.

"We'll be able to conduct a much more coordinated attack," he said. "We can manage the ventilation and make entry into a structure in a much safer manner than what we can presently do."

The City Council voted unanimously to accept the grant. City Administrator George Shackelford said he is already looking into creative ways to manage the budget to allow the city to keep paying salaries when the two-year grant ends.