Hilton Head expected to turn down $1 million grant to avoid future expenses

Hilton Head Island is poised to turn down almost a million dollars in federal funding for nine new firefighters because town officials say they would be unable to pay the salaries after the grant money runs out.

The four-year, $975,420 grant from the Department of Homeland Security would have covered about 75 percent of the additional salariesthe first year, and less each subsequent year. The fifth year, town would be responsible for$514,053in salaries.

Over five years, the town would pay $1.47 million, which would be the difference between the grant and the total cost, according to Fire & Rescue Division projections.

On Monday, the town's Public Safety Committee recommended the grant be turned down. Town Council is expected to follow that decision tonight.

"It's the answer we expected," said Chief Lavarn Lucas. "We'll be running a little leaner than we would like, but we'll continue to run and provide the fastest coverage we can."

The nine new firefighters would have helped preventthree stations from periodically being taken out of service.

Five of the island's seven stations routinely don't have enough staff to simultaneously operate a fire engine and ambulance. When one piece of equipment goes out on a call, not enough employees remain to operate the other.

"What's hurting us now is that all too often when a call arrives, the first unit can't respond because there's no one to drive the truck because everyone's out on a medical call," Lucas said.

On Sept. 26, that happened when a house caught fire within eyesight of Station 4 on Squire Pope Road. That station's three-person crew was out on a medical call, as were the crews at the two other nearest stations.

Dispatchers received more than 20 calls during the nine minutes and 35 seconds it took for an engine to arrive from Station 3, located mid-island next to First Presbyterian Church. Bystanders even went to the closest fire station to bang on the door.

"They could see the fire truck through the window, but there was no one there to operate it," Lucas said.

Last year, there were 5,426 instances in which either an ambulance or fire truck was taken out of service, according to fire department statistics.

It happens more often now that Hilton Head Hospital dropped its Level 3 trauma center status, said Lucas. The hospital is sending more patients to Savannah and Charleston, which both have Level 1 trauma centers.

Because the hospital changed policy only recently, Lucas did not know the specific increase in transporting patients off-island.

When medical helicopters are unable to fly, transporting a patient takes an ambulance out of service for as long asfour hours if the patient is going to Savannah and up to six hours if the patient is headed to Charleston.

Usually, other stations are able to cover, but during busy times, the island has to call the Bluffton Township Fire District, Beaufort County EMS or the Burton Fire District for help.

Despite the shortages, first-arriving ambulances get to the scene within the five minute goal 86 percent of the time and fire trucks 83 percent of the time, according to department statistics.

Hilton Head is having to make a lot of tough decisions now that funding is tight and property tax caps prevent officials from significantly raising taxes to cover shortfalls.

"We don't have that flexibility anymore," said town manager Steve Riley. "I don't see how we can fund the extra staff without cutting into the other services of the town."