The budget for 2025 passed Tuesday night by the Canandaigua City Council did not include funding to hire more firefighters.
The City Council voted 6-3 on a budget amendment to deny hiring additional firefighters. However, funds were approved for a deputy fire chief position. Also approved was the city hiring an outside firm to conduct a public safety study to update risk assessments for its first responders.
Attention was recently brought to the issue of the department’s staffing shortages by the firefighters union following a fatal fire that claimed the life of a 98-year-old city resident. Only two firefighters were initially available to respond to the November 30th blaze.
City Manager John Goodwin responded with a statement referencing a six-year-old independent study, which recommended maintaining four firefighters per shift as the optimal staffing level for the Canandaigua Fire Department.
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