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Rota Fire & EMS outlines staffing gaps, ambulance outage and delayed radio project
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Summary
Acting fire leadership told senators the department has 19 sworn firefighters and four admin staff, one ambulance out of service, and a multi‑year communications grant delayed by procurement and vendor cost issues; senators urged use of revolving funds, OIA grant support for overtime and cross‑island training.
Acting Deputy Commissioner Ron H. Ogo and Fire Chief presented the Department of Fire and Emergency Medical Services’ FY26 needs to the Senate budget committee on Aug. 22, reporting staffing shortfalls, vehicle outages and delays executing a federally funded communications upgrade.
Chief Ron H. Ogo said the department has 19 sworn officers and four administrative staff and described two pending personnel actions: one vacancy in process after a resignation and additional funded vacancies being filled by reclassification and reemployment of former firefighters. “We still need more,” Ogo said when senators asked about recruitment and the need for an academy.
The department reported one ambulance out of service and one operational ambulance; vehicles require maintenance and the majority of revolving‑fund expenditures have gone to fuel and upkeep. Revolving funds reported at the hearing include a fire safety account with roughly $9,001 and an ambulance‑fee account with about $3,480; a Rota local law account balance of $3,350 was also reported.
Senators and the department discussed overtime and payroll delays. Committee members said the overtime provision in the proposed budget was intended to be supplemented by an Office of Insular Affairs (OIA) grant so that general‑fund personnel costs could be reprogrammed; committee members said they were pursuing mechanisms — including access to OIA funding — to avoid unpaid payrolls. “Every day that the payroll is not paid, it just compounds,” a senator said.
On communications, Chief Ogo described a grant‑funded project to install repeaters and portable radios to link first responders with the hospital. He said vendor quotations exceeded the grant amounts, prompting guidance from legal counsel to rebid and causing repeated requests for extensions. The department is attempting to piecemeal purchases (for example, buying repeaters and radios in phases) to move the project forward while seeking extensions from the grant administrator.
Senators asked about training and certification. The department relies on Saipan for EMT recertification and instructor support; local recertification capacity was limited and officials said instructors must sometimes be brought from Saipan or Guam, which increases cost. The department said it plans to coordinate with Saipan for academy training for Rota and Tinian when funding allows.
Ending: Committee members urged continued follow‑up with OMB, finance and grant administrators to clear procurement and grant issues, authorized use of revolving funds where appropriate, and signaled willingness to assist in embedding funding for positions and overtime if federal grant support is secured.
