The Peachtree City Council is expected to vote Thursday night to add three firefighter/paramedic positions to the Peachtree City Fire Department using funds set aside in this year’s budget for a matching grant for fire personnel that never materialized.

If the new hires are approved, the city would add an additional firefighter/paramedic to each shift, meaning that 15 persons will be on duty at any given time, fire officials said. That still leaves the department well short of minimal national staffing standards, and it means some fire apparatus will still deploy with just one staffer, officials say.

Having two firefighters on each apparatus means getting up to 19 firefighters per shift, according to Assistant Fire Chief Ed Eiswerth.

In a memo to council, Eiswerth noted that if the positions are approved for this year’s budget, the extra staffer per shift would be assigned to Station 83 on the south side off Peachtree Parkway.

Doing so would allow two firefighters to be placed on the fire truck and ambulance which originate from that station, he said.

The fire department uses 24-hour shifts, with firefighters working one day on, followed by two days off. The firefighters are all cross-trained with paramedic or emergency medical technician certifications so they can also staff the department’s ambulances.

The fire department is proposing the creation of an additional six firefighting positions in next year’s budget so it can re-apply for the federal grant. Though the city was turned down for the grant this year, federal officials indicated that the departments selected for the grant program were ones which would get up to the minimum national standards with the new grant-funded positions.

It costs the city about $214,000 a year to add three new firefighters to the budget including salary, equipment and other costs.

Council will also consider a rezoning request from a resident who wants to split his parcel into two separate parcels. Thomas Haynes wants to split his 3.8 acre tract into two parcels, a move not allowed under the current zoning for the property of estate residential.

Under the ER zoning district, lots can be no smaller than three acres in size. Haynes has already built a second home on the property under a city ordinance that allows for a “guest house” to be built. His son’s family currently lives in that guest house, officials have said.

The City Council turned down a similar rezoning request in July 2001 before the guest house was built. The city’s planning commission has recommended denial of the rezoning.

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