PRINCETON: Grant will be used to recruit, retain firefighters

By Victoria Hurley-Schubert, Staff Writer
   Princeton Fire Department will be able to expand its recruiting and retention of volunteer members thanks to a $361,500 grant from U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS).
   The money will be distributed over a four-year period and applied to five areas of volunteer recruitment and retention, said Mark Freda, director of emergency management of Princeton Borough.
   Princeton Fire Department currently has about 80 volunteers and would like to increase to about 100 in two years and 120 in four years, Mr. Freda said.
   ”That’s kind of ambitious,” he said. “Historically it’s been hard to recruit and retain people in that time frame.”
   The first area the grant will support will be his salary, he said. His position is currently supported by Princeton University’s payment in lieu of taxes, which is entirely voluntary on its part, said Mr. Freda.
   ”One of the goals of applying for the grant was to put some stability in the funding for the position, instead of wondering every year,” he said. “Since about 50 percent of my time is spent on activities that come under recruiting and retention of volunteer firefighters, the grant will cover 50 percent of what it costs for this position.”
   Funds from the grant will cover about $50,000 of Mr. Freda’s $100,000 salary for the first year; $55,000 the second year; $60,000 and $65,000 in the third and fourth years of distribution.
   Marketing program costs to recruit new volunteers will be supported by the grant as well. Parts of this program will be an annual mailing to residents appealing for volunteers, online recruiting and a trailer that could run at the Garden Theater.
   ”We won’t be asking for a donation, we just want people to join,” said Mr. Freda.
   The mailing ads will contain information about how to join and what’s involved in belonging to the fire department. In the first year, $25,000 will be dedicated to these efforts. The following years will have $17,000, $24,500 and $18,000.
   ”The numbers vary a little bit because we thought with the mailing list, you can use it two years,” said Mr. Freda. “The trailer can be used for two years and then update it; some of the things that we’re going to do will have more than a one-year life span, so it’s not like you have to respond every dollar every year.”
   The Fire Department also hopes to improve its relationship with Princeton High School’s community service program to attract students to volunteer for their community service requirements in their sophomore years. Hopefully, those students will turn into future members, he said. In the first and fourth years, these efforts will use $4,000 of the grant money and $3,500 in the middle years.
   The next use for the money will be to improve the sleeping quarters of the Witherspoon Street firehouse, which will help with retention.
   ”The facilities in the bunk room are sparse, so we asked for $15,000 to help us redo the bunk room area so it’s possibly something someone would walk into and say ‘I wouldn’t mind spending the night here,’ “ said Mr. Freda.
   The last area where the grant money will be spent is a marketing program to recruit new volunteers.
   ”We asked for money for recruiting signs, ads on local cable TV, things like that,” he said.
   In the first and third years of the grant, $7,000 will be used, and $2,500 will be used in the second and fourth years.
   The department applied for the grant through DHS’s “Assistance to Firefighters Grants” (AFG) program and specifically the Staffing for Adequate Fire and Emergency Response (SAFER).