Acting Salisbury fire Chief Rick Hoppes said he was disappointed that the City Council rejected this week a $1.4 million federal grant that would have temporarily added 12 firefighters to the force over two years.
Hoppes told the Salisbury Daily Times that despite the vote his department would continue to provide the highest level of service.
Despite a 2 percent increase in the number of calls over the last few years the city has not added any extra firefighters over the last six years.
Hoppes noted that the number of uniformed firefighters has declined from 64 to 61 since 2006.
The cause, he said, were departures and a hiring freeze.
The average response time is now five minutes.
The grant stumbled over a technical issue which requires approve by the City Council before the application for the grant could be submitted.
By 3-to-2 the Council majority cited this technical problem in their rejection of the grant.
