ROCHESTER — Town Fire Department Chief Scott Weigel said that recruitment and retention of firefighters is an issue for Fire Departments across the country, and Rochester is no different.

So to help with the problem, the fire department received a $120,155 grant from the Federal Emergency Management Agency to be used over four years. 

The grant, announced at a Sept. 8 Selectmen’s meeting, will fund aspects like physicals for firefighters, rewarding them with a stipend of $1,500 once they finish Fire Academy, and paying for new personal protective equipment for all the crew. 

“It’s a real opportunity to recruit new firefighters and keep the ones they have,” Marcia Kessler said, the Fire Department’s grant writer. 

The grant will also cover funds for recruiting firefighters. A $75 stipend will be allocated to pay for someone to manage the fire department’s social media accounts and design posters. Money will also go towards making an effort to recruit students from Old Rochester High School to become firefighters.

Weigel also mentioned that the grant will cover training for his crew to become trained paramedics. The tuition for training costs around $1,000. 

He said that FEMA is pushing for firefighters to become level two firefighters. In order to level up, workers have to go through Fire Academy, which takes 240 hours to complete. 

Beyond the FEMA grant, the Fire Department received three other grants, two of which are covid-related. 

A $2,500 grant from the state’s Department of Fire Services helped pay for new hoods and gloves to protect workers from coronavirus, and the other is a covid supplement grant for $2,000.

Kessler said the grants are important because they help not only incentivize new firefighters to join, but motivates long standing workers to stay on the force. 

“It’s an opportunity for the Chief to build a strong team” whether firefighters joined 20 years ago or today, Kessler said.