The Williams City Council allocated about $38,000 of their COVID relief funds from the CARES Act to purchase 45 new jackets for Williams Fire Protection Authority emergency medical services personnel.
The council approved the purchase, along with an additional $10,000 to reimburse the WFPA for personal protection equipment, on March 16, after Authority officials made an impassioned plea for the funding.
As a Joint Powers Authority between the city, the county, and the fire protection district, the WFPA did not receive COVID relief funding of their own, yet the fire department had pandemic-related expenses, officials said.
“The Authority employees and volunteer firefighters did not take any time off since the pandemic started and the government ordered shutdowns in March of 2020,” WFPA Chairman Doug Turner said, in a letter to the Williams City Council. “The Authority office remained open and firefighters responded to all emergencies on a daily basis. No employees were allowed to work from home.”
Turner said that while the County of Colusa provided firefighters with N-95 respirators and goggles to be used for pandemic response, the City of Williams contributed no COVID relief funding, yet the fire department had – and continues to have – ongoing PPE costs, including Tyvek suits and medical gloves, which have increased in price.
Turner said the WFPA felt the City Council using COVID relief funds last November to give themselves and city employees – many who worked from home – $500 bonuses for getting vaccinated before offering any financial relief to the fire staff and volunteers who continued to serve the public during the pandemic was a “slap in the face.”
The City Council did agree the $822 cost for each of the new certified jackets was a suitable use for COVID relief funds.
Officials said the new lightweight jackets will be worn by firefighters to respond to all medical-related incidents, which could also reduce possible carcinogens from fire and smoke from being carried into people’s homes on their regular fire turnout gear, which is not cleaned on a regular basis.
“It’s a good and proper use for that money,” City Administrator Frank Kennedy said. ■