LOUISVILLE, Ky. — The Louisville Fire Department will soon get some much-needed upgrades.

Earlier this week, the Louisville Metro Council passed Mayor Craig Greenberg’s (D) mid-year budget adjustment of $16.5 million. Of that, $6.1 million will go to the fire department. 

What You Need To Know

  • Some necessary upgrades are coming to the Louisville Fire Department 
  • Earlier this week, Louisville Metro Council passed Mayor Craig Greenberg’s (D) mid-year budget adjustment of $16.5 million
  • Of that, $6.1 million will go to the fire department
  • Affordable housing and infrastructure improvements on the city streets will receive funding from the mid-year budget surplus as well

For months, the fire department has called for more funds to make critical repairs.

"This is a huge benefit for us," said Louisville Fire Chief Brian O'Neill. "We are so appreciative of the work that Mayor Greenberg and the Metro Council have done to help the fire department because we're hurting." 

He said they are behind on maintenance.

"We are about $33 (to) 34 million behind on deferred maintenance, to our structures and our facilities," O'Neill said. "On the fleet side, our fire apparatus are in even worse shape."

"The (National Fire Protection Association) standards say they shouldn't last. They shouldn't be on the frontline for more than 15 years, and we have 10 apparatus that are more than 15 years old. 

With the $6.1 million from the mid-year budget surplus, Louisville Professional Firefighters Local 54 President Jeff Taylor said they’ll be able to improve public safety.

"That will buy ... $500,000 of it is dedicated toward apparatus," Taylor said. "That will allow us to buy two pumpers and a truck or an aerial, and we'll spend another $1.1 (million) approximately on upgrading some of the facilities that are in pretty bad repair." 

Just this year, the department has been called to dramatic rescues from the Second Street Bridge to recovering a man who fell into a trench filled with rubble at a demolition site that led to a nearly nine-hour mission. 

"People need to understand if they don't know that we live there for one-third of our lives at a minimum; that is where we eat, that is where we sleep, that's where we prepare our meals," Taylor said. "Obviously, it's the place we respond from, to an emergency scene. And we need we be entitled to the basics." 

Affordable housing and infrastructure improvements on the city streets will receive funding from the mid-year budget surplus as well.

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