Richfield wants firefighters nearby

When the call for help comes, firefighters sometimes need extra help; so they call off-duty department members for backup assistance.

Richfield Fire Chief Brad Sveum would like to make sure the backups live within a 10-minute response time.

Rep. Linda Slocum (DFL-Richfield) sponsors HF2729 that would allow Richfield to impose a residency requirement based on response time for newly hired firefighters. Sveum expects to hire between two and five new firefighters in the next few years

Sveum told the House Local Government Division Feb. 22 that his on-duty staff can respond to 90 percent of calls, but 100-150 times a year, including responses to 911 calls and requests for mutual aid from neighboring communities, calling in off-duty personnel is necessary.

State law prohibits cities in the seven-county Twin Cities metropolitan area from establishing residency requirements for city employees. Slocum said one reason this change would make sense for Richfield is that they can live in several other nearby communities and still be within the desired response time.

“In the case of Richfield, I can support this because they don’t have any paid on-call or volunteers to back up full-time firefighters,” said Tom Thornberg, president of Minnesota Professional Fire Fighters. “So it is important they can have people come back quickly.”

Approved by the division, the bill was sent to the House State and Local Government Operations Reform, Technology and Elections Committee. A companion, SF2729, sponsored by Sen. Ken Kelash (DFL-Mpls), was recommended to pass Feb. 22 by the Senate State and Local Government Operations and Oversight Committee.