TRAINING DAYS: Six firefighters join Clinton's roster
Mar. 24—Over the past several years, Hunter Connolly, Larson Barnett, Adam Barr, Alex Dickman, Alex Garza, and Alexander Parker have been forging their careers in the emergency services field.
Now as the result of a federal grant, the six have started training as the newest members of the Clinton Fire Department. The six were hired onto the department through a $1.6 million Staffing for Adequate Fire and Emergency Response (SAFER) grant the fire department landed last year. It will fully fund the six firefighters' salaries and benefits for three years.
The grant also places the department within National Fire Protection Association standards of adequate staffing for the first time since the early 1980s. A staffing reduction that took place during the early 1980s brought the number of CFD firefighters down to 45. Since then, the size of the department has remained the same, but the volume of calls they receive has increased, Fire Chief Joel Atkinson says.
"We'll be staffed at 51 [firefighters]," Atkinson says. "We're very excited to have them on."
The purpose of the SAFER program is to award grants directly to eligible fire departments to assist with staffing and deployment capabilities, and to better respond to emergencies. Using a competitive process that is informed by fire service subject-matter experts, grants are awarded to applicants whose requests best address the priorities of the SAFER Program.
In Clinton, the increase of staffing equates to the ability to run three ambulances instead of two, less reliance on surrounding area fire departments to meet NFPA standards of 17 firefighters at each structure fire, and the improvement of services for the safety of Clinton citizens. Atkinson says it also increases the safety of firefighters in emergency situations.
Hired last fall, the group began training with the Clinton Fire Department on March 14 for a total of six weeks, after which they'll each be assigned to a shift and sworn onto the department in April.
"A career in the fire service is something I have looked forward to for many years," Connolly says. "I am honored to have the opportunity to join the Clinton Fire Department and look forward to serving this great community."
A 2021 graduate of Maquoketa High School, Connolly joined the Maquoketa Fire Department as a Junior Firefighter while in high school. He is currently near completion of earning a degree in fire science from Kirkwood Community College.
Barnett recently earned EMT certification from the University of Iowa. He began as a volunteer firefighter in his hometown of Fulton, Illinois about six months ago. Following in the footsteps of his uncle, who is a former Clinton firefighter, Barnett says he's wanted to be a firefighter in Clinton his entire life.
Barr, 26, is from DeWitt, where he graduated in 2015 from Central DeWitt High School and has been a volunteer firefighter for four years. He married in 2018 and has three children.
Dickman joined the Eldridge Volunteer Fire Company in 2017 when he was 15 years old. In 2021, he graduated from North Scott High School in Eldridge, and went on to receive EMT certification in December from Kirkwood Community College. He will graduate from there with an associate's degree in fire science this spring.
Garza is from Tampico, Illinois, and graduated high school in Dixon, Illinois. For the last few years, he has been serving Illinois communities as a paramedic.
Parker, 20, is from Watkins, Iowa. He is a 2021 graduate of Benton High School and is currently attending Kirkwood Community College in pursuit of an associate's degree in fire science. In Norway, Iowa, he was a firefighter for about a year and brings to Clinton a passion for volunteering in the community.
