San Angelo Fire Chief (Michael Prodi, identified in the workshop) told the Aug. 5 budget workshop that the department applied for a FEMA SAFER grant to staff anticipated new Fire Station No. 9 and that the city budget includes a proposed $360,000 local match if the grant is awarded.

Chief Prodi said the SAFER grant request covers compensation for 20 new firefighters needed to staff the planned station and that the program’s timeline for training and hiring of new staff is long: it takes roughly 16 months to train a new cohort. “It’s going to take three years to do that,” Prodi said, and noted the SAFER program historically funds only a portion of applicants (he estimated a roughly 20% success rate nationally).

Nut graf: To make the SAFER grant effective, the city must budget the local 25% match component up front; the risk‑adjusted approach staff presented treats the $360,000 as contingent pending a grant award. Prodi and finance staff also asked the council to budget $100,000 for fire overtime (a multi‑year issue) and $150,000 for fire apparatus funding to accelerate replacements the chief said otherwise would take decades at current cash‑flow levels.

Prodi explained overtime has been a recurring cost driven by training pipelines, extended academy times, and vacancies; he said hiring more career staff reduces long‑term overtime costs but that vehicle replacement cycles are also becoming more expensive (the chief cited roughly $1 million as a current price for a new front‑line fire truck). No grant award had been announced at the workshop; Prodi said the city will know whether the SAFER application is approved around September–October.