Lake County Fire Rescue is touting the hiring of 19 new firefighters, 15 of whom were brought on board thanks to a $1.75 million federal grant, officials said.
The new hires represent a 10% boost in staffing as part of a multi-year goal to beef up the county’s firefighting corps.
“Our goal is to staff a minimum of three firefighters on every engine throughout our department within the next 5 to 10 years,” Lake County Fire Chief Jim Dickerson said in a news release.
Funding for 15 of the positions came through a grant from the Department of Homeland Security’s Staffing for Adequate Fire and Emergency Response (SAFER). Groveland received a $1 million SAFER grant, which funded nine of 12 new firefighters the city recently brought on board.