DATE: October 21, 2025
TO: Mayor and City Council
FROM: Interim Fire Chief
SUBJECT: Adopt a Resolution Authorizing the City Manager to Accept and Appropriate $1,785,000 in Federal Emergency Management Association Grant Funding Through the 2024 Assistance to Firefighter’s Grant Program to Support Hayward Fire Department Personnel Paramedic School and Licensure Requirements
RECOMMENDATION
That Council adopts a resolution (Attachment II) authorizing the City Manager to accept and appropriate $1,785,000 in Federal Emergency Management Association (FEMA) grant funding through the 2024 Assistance to Firefighter’s Grant (AFG) program to support the Hayward Fire Department personnel paramedic school and licensure requirements.
SUMMARY
The Hayward Fire Department (HFD) has been awarded the 2024 Assistance to Firefighter’s Grant through FEMA’s dedicated grant funding that supports first responders. HFD sought this grant to subsidize the strain on the City’s current financial status. The funding will offset the majority of costs associated with sending nineteen (19) new recruits to paramedic school for paramedic education and licensure. The grant funds would be appropriated to Fund 220.
FISCAL IMPACT
This grant offsets $1,785,000 in general fund money associated with training nineteen (19) emergency medical technician (EMTs) hires to become paramedics.
On September 23, 2025, Council authorized the City Manager to execute an agreement with UC Davis to enroll the nineteen (19) EMTs in their paramedic program, not to exceed $300,000 over two years. In that staff report, staff proposed to pay for the cost using two funded Capital Improvement Program (CIP) projects. The adopted FY26 CIP budget includes a project for paramedic school, which is budgeted at $27,000 in FY26 and $75,0000 in FY27. It also includes $100,000 in both FY26 and FY27 for the Recruit Academy. Both of these projects are in Fund 405, which is paid for through a transfer from the General Fund.
By securing the $1,785,000 in FEMA grant funding, the overall budget impact of the paramedic school enrollment and staffing obligations will be lessened as follows:
• $1,100,382 in overtime for trainees
• $388,916 in backfill overtime
• $53,650 in Administrative labor:
Deputy Chief, EMS Captain, Management Analyst, and Senior Secretary time for project management, fiscal oversight, and grant compliance.
• $32,000 in Field Training Officer (FTO) Support:
FTO supervision and evaluation of firefighter-paramedic students during precepting rotations as required for certification.
• $92,808 in Operational Support:
Backfill and leave-with-pay costs during class and clinical rotations, along with City- funded tuition and training materials.
The grant requires a 10% local cost match totaling $178,458. HFD will meet this requirement through a combination of tuition and supply costs:
• $157,500 in tuition fees, which will come out of the existing CIP budget as indicated in the September 23 report.
• $29,958 in supplies, including books, uniforms, and miscellaneous materials, which will come out of HFD’s existing supplies budget.
A total of $91,875 in tuition was paid from Fund 405 before the grant was awarded. Under this agreement, this City will pay $157,500 in tuition. The grant funding will offset the remaining $50,625 of the $300,000 discussed in the September 23 report. In addition, HFD will seek to receive pre-award credit approval to apply $91,875 against the grant funding, which would provide the City an additional offset of that amount.
BACKGROUND & DISCUSSION
Hayward Fire Department requires all frontline firefighter personnel to be certified as paramedics as a condition of employment. In 2023, low staffing levels and unsuccessful recruiting led to a staffing crisis which necessitated a side letter between Local 1909 Firefighter’s Union and the Hayward Fire Department to temporarily allow hiring of EMTs, with the agreement that they must successfully obtain their paramedic’s license within their probationary period.
Eleven Firefighter-EMTs began probation on July 1, 2024, and eight more on January 13, 2025. Each group has 30 months to obtain a California paramedic license, with deadlines of December 31, 2026, and July 13, 2027, respectively. The first cohort began paramedic school in fall 2025, and the second will start in fall 2026 to meet these requirements.
HFD explored multiple training avenues to provide a streamlined method for the EMT graduates to achieve the paramedic licensure. After research, the department has determined the most cost-effective option that can handle this number of students is for the EMTs to
enroll as students in the continuing education program at UC Davis. This program also offered remote options, which allows the EMTs to complete some coursework while on shift.
Due to the current financial distress within the city, HFD sought additional support from FEMA to help offset the impact on the budget. The Assistance to Firefighter’s Grant was established in 2001 to meet the firefighting and emergency response needs of fire departments and non-affiliated emergency medical service organizations. Since its inception, the AFG has helped firefighters and other first responders obtain critically needed equipment, protective gear, emergency vehicles, training and other resources necessary for protecting the public and emergency personnel from fire and related hazards. The current grant period spans from 10/2/2025-10/1/2027, which fulfills the timeline associated with the extended probationary period established by the Local 1909 side letter and will allow staff EMTs to successfully acquire their paramedic licenses.
STRATEGIC ROADMAP
This initiative supports the Strategic Roadmap priority of Enhance Community Safety. In particular, it supports the metric “fire incident numbers, types, and response times.”
NEXT STEPS
If Council adopts the resolution, HFD will accept the grant funding and proceed with enrollment and shift coverage requirements to maintain required staffing levels.
Prepared by: Lauren Dekas, Management Analyst
Recommended by: Eric Vollmer, Interim Fire Chief
Approved by:
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Jayanti Addleman, Interim City Manager