News Talk 94.1/AM 1600 Where The Upper Cumberland Talks
Monterey’s Fire Chief would like to hire some additional firefighters to fix a personnel shortage.
Chief Kevin Peters has asked town officials to provide funding for at least four part-time positions.
“I think this year we got about 78 calls that weren’t responded to during the daytime hours,” Peters said. “Most of those were medical calls, but still there’s been some calls that the county has had to run for us because nobody has been in town.”
A total of 13 firefighters volunteer at the department, but many work other jobs during the daytime hours. Peters said additional crew members would provide better safety and allow more projects to be completed at the station.
“It’s dangerous for one person to try to do some of this stuff,” Peters said. “There’s enough things to do at that department for two people to keep them busy during the day.”
Peters made the personnel request during the first round of 2019-2020 budget discussions Wednesday.
The chief has also requested a $16,000 increase to the recruitment and retention of personnel budget. That money provides payment to firefighters on a per-call basis.
