Manteca will have nine new firefighters by the end of April.

And it will mean improved response times not just in fast growing southwest Manteca but throughout the city.

The City Council Tuesday agreed to accept a $2,692,300 federal Staffing for Adequate Fire & Emergency Response (SAFER) grant to hire the nine firefighters.

The grant covers 75 percent of the cost of the firefighters for the first two years and 35 percent in the third year.

Starting in the fourth year, the city picks up 100 percent of the tab.

The grant stipulated the city hire the firefighters within 180 days of the federal government accepting Manteca’s approval that was required by Nov. 1.

The grant combined with city funds that are expected to be covered primarily by the Measure Q three-quarter cent sales tax will allow the city to house a second company at the Union Road station.

It is the closest to southwest Manteca where roughly 3,000 homes are now outside the targeted five-minute response time.

The Union Road station also was built in 2002 with living quarters for two crews.

The tiller truck will be moved to the Union Road station to join an existing engine company.

 A standard fire engine will be placed at the Powers Avenue station where the tiller truck is now located.

There was a significant vehicle accident on Tuesday on McKinley Avenue that took fire crews upwards of 15 minutes to respond to in southwest Manteca.

It is typical of the challenge the city currently has covering southwest Manteca.

It was re-enforced by a resident Tuesday who noted a few years back he had to perform CPR on his daughter for 15 minutes until firefighters were able to arrive.

The need for other engines housed at other stations to answer calls in southwest Manteca or cover calls for an engine dispatched there has led to response times elsewhere in the city creeping upward.

The additional fire company will improve response times citywide.

The nine new firefighters will be shifted to the city’s sixth fire station that the city is working toward building and opening in the next two to three years.

The city also is has identified the need for a second set of nine firefighter to place two fire companies at Union Road after the sixth station is built.

Manteca currently has 48 frontline firefighters. Eighteen, or 37 percent, of those positions are funded with the Measure M half cent public safety tax passed in 2006.

The nine additional firefighters will increase the number of the department’s fire suppression personnel by 20 percent.

To contact Dennis Wyatt, email dwyatt@mantecabulletin.com