MOORHEAD, Minn. (Valley News Live) – The Moorhead Fire Department is looking to expand by adding three firefighters and a third station.
At a city council workshop earlier this month, two proposals were made to get Moorhead the additional staff it needs. One could cost $298,126 from the city’s budget. The other would cost $74,532 (for an anticipated first year) to be matched through a multi-year SAFER Grant. The federal grant helps staff fire departments that need the help.
In addition, the fire department is also requesting $115,333 for a training coordinator and $20,000 for pre-design services for a third fire station.
“We’re considering the options of staff being onboarded a little bit earlier in the calendar and the competitive process of a grant versus the known funding of the city budget. But there is also the potential for significant savings if a grant option were being pursued,” said Chief Jeff Wallin with the Moorhead Fire Department.
The City has budgeted $6.8 million for the department for the 2025 budget year. The Moorhead Fire Department is also in need of a third fire station. Currently, the lot located at 800 46th Avenue South is the station’s potential home.
“Over the past 10 years, there’s been a larger geographical area that we need to respond to, which translates into longer and longer response times in the newer parts of town. Also, our call volume has been increasing year over year as the population has increased.
Every now and then, the department calls for extra help from surrounding agencies like the Fargo Fire Department or the Southern Valley Fire and Rescue.
“A lot of fire departments face a lot of the same issues just on different levels and different scales. Over the last two years, we’ve always had those conversations going. About six months ago, they had reached out and we started looking at mutual aid agreements because we realized we didn’t have one between the two departments,” said Chief Chris Mahoney with the Southern Valley Fire and Rescue Department.
Mahoney says it’s been about two years since they’ve aided Moorhead with a fire.
“Based on the incident and where it’s located, that’s where we’re going to be pulling equipment from. What you might start seeing is that as those resources around those incidents get pulled in, you start seeing some of those other ones from the outside kind of strategically being placed.”
Strategic, exactly what Moorhead city Leaders want to be as they make decisions on the future of the fire department.
“Federal grants typically open up in January or February of each year. Awards are typically made in May or June of each year. Staff can be onboard usually in the fall,” added Chief Wallin.
The Moorhead Firefighters Local 1323 Group issued the following statement regarding the recent budget discussions:
Since 2008, Moorhead Fire Department’s calls for service have nearly doubled while the number of operations Fire Fighters protecting the city has remained exactly the same. The number of fire station locations (2) & coverage throughout the city has remained exactly the same since 1971. That’s despite massive increases in both population density & coverage territory. Our Union is advocating for adequate staffing so that we can provide the level of service that is expected when someone has an emergency and calls 911 in Moorhead.
At the last two city council workshop meetings, City council members overwhelmingly supported and directed the city manager and staff to combine the 2 budget proposal options provided by city staff together into 1 new option. That option would include the hiring of 3 Fire Fighters outright and 1 Training Coordinator immediately at the beginning of 2026 AND also allocate the funds needed for a SAFER grant match in which the department would apply for additional Fire Fighters in 2026 once the grant application period opens. Also included are the funds needed to complete design and site survey work for the future Station 3 in the 2026 budget.
We are extremely thankful to this city council for supporting these important public safety additions in the Fire Department that are extremely long overdue. These proposed staffing additions would not bring the fire department up to the level of meeting national standards set by NFPA, but they are a great step in working towards them. It would also allow us to place our current ladder truck into service a larger percentage of time throughout the year. The ladder truck is currently not in service for the majority of the year due to inadequate staffing.
The International Association of Fire Fighters (IAFF) Headquarters was engaged to provide information for decision makers regarding proposals for Moorhead Fire Department’s (MFD) staffing and deployment. We encourage you to learn more about that by clicking the link below.
https://gis.iaff.org/portal/apps/storymaps/stories/93d15d095bec4ac1b268192e1580cd58
