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August 12, 2025 St. Anthony Council Work Session - 3 Chief Diaz provided an example of a Structure fire dispatched for 0200 in St. Anthony. The Duty Crew on shift responds with the engine. All-call placed for personnel. Mutual aid requested. There are 10 tasks required to be performed by the crew. Chief Diaz explained the SAFER Grant – Staffing for Adequate Fire and Emergency Response. It is a FEMA Program, and St. Anthony will be applying in 2025. Approximately $335 million is available through the grant. It is highly competitive with a 5% Success rate. St. Anthony applied in 2022. Chief Diaz reviewed the 5-Year Implementation Plan: 2025-2027 Hire 3 firefighters/paramedics. Reduce paid on-call staff accordingly. No annual paid on-call recruitment. 2028-2030 Hire 3 firefighters/paramedics. Reduce paid on-call staff to a maximum of 10. No annual paid on-call recruitment. The cost-benefit and savings would reduce the overtime budget, avoid annual recruitment costs, and reduce callback costs. Chief Diaz reviewed the Firefighters' Annual Cost in 2025—Firefighter $113,790 - $121,908 and Paramedic $121,636 - $129,754. The cost per household, based on 2024 data, for 3 additional firefighters will cost each household less than $60 annually. Mayor Webster reviewed the goals she heard in the presentation. When coming into the role, he reviewed the data to determine staffing needs for the highest level of service. Safety of staff was also viewed as very important, and in the event of a fire, by sending 2 firefighters who did not meet OSHA standards. With 2000 calls a year, 1600 are medical calls. She asked when two calls come in at the same time, when Chief Diaz and Deputy Chief Jaros are out on a call who goes to the second call. Chief Diaz stated that an all-call goes out. Mayor Webster noted there were 80 all-calls in a year. She does not want Chief Diaz and Deputy Chief Jaros to burn out. The high level of service is valued in the community. The health outcomes are 90%. She appreciates hearing the presentation and all the factors involved. Councilmember Doolan referred to the paid on-call and how it is not sustainable, and asked if this is an issue in just St. Anthony or in other communities. Chief Diaz stated that this is an issue throughout all fire stations. Deputy Chief Jaros stated retention is a problem. The population grew, and training of on- call workers takes a lot of time, and retention is not good. Half of the incoming staff leave for another department with better staffing. 75% of full-time staff have either retired or gone to other departments. Councilmember Jenson asked how many on-call people St. Anthony has right now, and Deputy Chief Jaros stated that currently there are 12, with 7 more in training. Those in training started with 10. Training takes about a year. Typically, half the class leaves during the process. Councilmember Jenson asked what type of event triggers an on-call person. Deputy Chief Jaros stated that structure fires, cardiac arrest, and multiple calls trigger all on-call to come in. Councilmember Jenson asked how many fire calls require on-call personnel to attend, and Deputy Chief Jaros stated there are typically 1-2 fire 5