Base salaries for certified firefighters and police officers will now be $50,895, per Smyrna city officials

By Jake Busch Marietta Daily Journal, Ga. Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.

SMYRNA, Ga. — The City Council unanimously approved more than $1 million in raises for city employees at its meeting this week.

The raises, which total $1.3 million and will take effect Jan. 1 of next year, encompass a cost of living adjustment, merit increases and an extra $2,000 raise for certified public safety positions, according to City Administrator Joe Bennett.

Bennett told the MDJ Smyrna is short 20 police officers and four firefighters. Those numbers represent vacancy rates of 23% and 4%, respectively, according to Carol Sicard, Smyrna’s human resources director.

“The city is experiencing difficulty hiring and retaining employees in the certified public safety positions with constant changes occurring recently in other jurisdictions,” Bennett said.

Smyrna Police Chief Keith Zgonc said his department is “always in a battle with some of the other cities and counties” for personnel.

The new starting pay for uncertified police officers and firefighters will be $47,179, according to city staff. Base salaries for certified officers and firefighters will be $50,895. Sicard noted all uncertified officers and firefighters must complete their certification within their first year of employment with the city.

“It means a lot for the police department,” Zgonc said of the raises. “We’re short handed over there and this will go a long way towards keeping some folks on board.”

The city based its changes on a pay study conducted in 2021 by the University of Georgia’s Carl Vinson Institute of Government. That study recommended the city adjust its pay bands based on either the Employment Cost Index or the Consumer Price Index, with city staff electing to base the newest round of raises on the former.

For the remainder of the current budget year, which runs through June 2023, the city will fund the raises with a combination of contingency funding in the city’s general fund and a one-time use of federal COVID-19 relief funds.

Going forward, Bennett said Smyrna’s Budget Committee will look to use the city’s normal operational revenues to maintain the raises.

The City Council previously approved staff raises totaling $1.3 million in April. Prior to that, the council approved raises for a majority of Smyrna police officers in November 2021.

The cost of living adjustment for this newest round of raises will be 4.6%, which Sicard said all full- and part-time staff will receive. Merit raises, meanwhile, will be based on performance ratings, range from 1.5% to 3.5%, and be available for all eligible staff.

“This is an opportunity to take care of the people that take care of us,” said Mayor Derek Norton during Monday’s council meeting.

Norton said he and the council “inherited a mess as far as staff goes and in how they were taken care of in the past.”

Councilman Charles “Corkey” Welch, who has represented Smyrna Ward 4 since 2011, disagreed with Norton.

“You didn’t inherit a mess,” Welch said. “We did everything we could to give raises and give incentives to keep people on.”

Norton said he did not mean there was no efforts to retain staff on the part of previous councils.

“I mean that there was a mess as far as having done the pay study before, but then not maintaining,” Norton said.

The new positions will be in the department’s aviation and rescue unit or at a station in the works

By Leila Merrill FireRescue1

PHOENIX — The Phoenix city council voted unanimously Wednesday to allocate $7.8 million in annual funding to create 58 new fire department jobs starting in the 2023-2024 fiscal year.

According to a news release from the city, some of the new positions will be in the fire department’s aviation and rescue unit. Others will be in station 62, which is in the works.

“The Phoenix Fire Department is very grateful to the city leadership for supporting this critical need,” Phoenix Fire Chief Mike Duran was quoted as saying. “This will place more resources in the system that will improve response times so that we can help our residents as quickly as possible.”

“It is important to hire the staff prior to the completion of Fire Station 62 so that we can hit the ground running,” the chief added. “In the interim, we can benefit from the added personnel.”

Firefighters attempted to rescue the residents but were driven back by intense heat, smoke, and flames, Watertown Fire Department Chief Travis Teesch said

By WiscNews Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.

WATERTOWN, Wisc. — Three people were found dead following a house fire in Watertown early Friday morning.

Watertown Fire Department Chief Travis Teesch said in a statement that the fire is under investigation by the Watertown fire police departments as well as the State Fire Marshall.

According to the press release, the fire occurred in the 100 block of Western Avenue and was reported around 12:30 a.m. Emergency responders found the home engulfed in flames when they arrived and were told people were trapped inside.

Firefighters attempted to rescue the residents but were driven back by the intense heat, smoke, and flames, according to the release.

Names and ages of the three who died were not released. The cause of the fire remains under investigation, Teesch said in the release.

Assisting agencies include; fire agencies responding through the Mutual Aid Box Alarm System as well as the Jefferson County Sheriff’s Office and Dodge County Sheriff’s Office.

The Lehigh County coroner said the manner of death for Marvin Gruber and Zachary Paris is pending investigation due to the ongoing investigation

By Jennifer Sheehan The Morning Call Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.

SCHUYLKILL COUNTY, Pa. — The two firefighters who perished in the line of duty in Schuylkill County Wednesday night died of asphyxia and thermal injuries, the Lehigh County coroner has ruled.

Marvin Gruber, 59, and Zachary Paris, 36, members of the Community Fire Company in New Tripoli, were killed Wednesday evening fighting a house fire on Clamtown Road in West Penn Township, Schuylkill County.

Lehigh County Coroner Dan Buglio released his report Friday and said both men died of asphyxia and thermal injuries from the fire. Buglio said the manner of death for both men is “pending investigation” due to the ongoing fire and active scene investigation.

The bodies of both men were transported from New Philadelphia, Schuylkill County, to the Lehigh County Joint Operations Center in South Whitehall Township in a large procession Thursday afternoon. Hundreds of firefighters and emergency responders lined the streets and saluted as they said goodbye to Gruber and Paris.

GoFundMes have been set up to help the families of the two men.

• New Tripoli Bank: https://gofund.me/5348ecbe
• Natasha Bleiler: https://gofund.me/a962f502

The Dallas Fire Rescue engine rolled in a ditch while responding to a four-alarm fire in an Army Navy store.

Source Firehouse.com News

A Dallas Fire Rescue engine rolled into a ditch Friday morning responding to a commercial fire north of downtown.

Firefighters were called to the 11000 block of Harry Hines Boulevard around 7 a.m. and were unable to get into the building because of a large shipment that was received Thursday.

Firefighters moved to a defensive attack at Army Navy Plus store due to limited access and requested a second alarm to bring additional resources, DFR officials told WFAA.com.

The fire reached four alarms, bring over 100 firefighters to the scene. Crews used aerial ladders and hoseline to bring the fire under control.

Some of the firefighters did not reach the scene after an accident while responding.

An engine company that was responding used the shoulder to pass traffic and ended up rolling into a ditch.

Fire officials said the firefighters were not injured.

“We’re in shock right now,” owner Joan Walker said told the television station. “We don’t know what to think. We don’t know what’s going to happen. It’s part of the family.”

Acting State Fire Commissioner Charles McGarvey offered condolences and urged residents to step up prevention efforts.

Source Republican & Herald, Pottsville, Pa. (TNS) Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.

Dec. 9—Acting State Fire Commissioner Charles McGarvey said four line of duty deaths of firefighters in the past week in Pennsylvania underscore the importance and the value of taking fire risks seriously.

“We would like to extend our condolences to their colleagues and families for the loss of their loved ones. Our office has reached out to the appropriate local authorities to offer assistance,” he was quoted in a press release that noted the death of two firefighters from New Tripoli on Wednesday in West Penn Twp.

He said in separate cases last week, a firefighter was struck while directing traffic and a second experienced a heart attack after having responded to an incident.

The man struck was Kurt Keilhofer of the Mapleton Fire Department in Huntington County, according to a news release from Gov. Tom Wolf’s office. The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette said volunteer firefighter Nicholas A. Theofilis, 23, died Nov. 28 “after a heart attack and ambulance crash.”

The deaths “draw attention to a deeply troubling trend of rising line of duty deaths,” McGarvey’s news release said.

Residents can help firefighters limit their risk by ensuring homes are equipped with functioning smoke detectors, having an escape plan and practicing it with their entire families, and once out of a burning structure, not going back in, McGarvey said.

Likewise, the firefighting community cannot become complacent, he said, noting training opportunities exist to mitigate many of the risks associated with “our dangerous line of work.”

He urged motorists to drive safely near the scene of emergency incidents.