The Richmond Fire Department is headed toward full staffing after securing a $13.7 million federal grant.

Fire Chief Melvin D. Carter said 72 firefighters could be hired using the funding from the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA).

He said the focus will be to restore three 18-member truck companies and one 18-member engine company. Those along with nine other companies were disbanded since the 1970s due to a decline in the city’s population and as the city sought to save money using a “total quint concept” or trucks that carry ladders, water and hoses.

Quints eliminated the need for two different vehicles, the engine trucks that carry water and fire hoses and truck companies that carry the ladders.

Overall, the department lost nearly 100 positions through the years, with the biggest reduction occurring in the mid-1990s as the department became the first in the nation to completely shift to the quint concept under then-City Manager Robert C. Bobb. The concept is being abandoned as the quints are retired, and the department returns to separate trucks.

“With the explosion of people moving into Richmond, the Fire Department has had difficulty keeping up with the additional demands for service,” said Keith Andes, president of the city firefighters union, Local 995 of the International Association of Fire Fighters.

“This grant enables the department to hire now rather than later to help meet the needs of our citizens,” Mr. Andes, a former firefighter, said.

He said the grant ensures additional staffing that will lessen “the voluntary and mandatory overtime our members have been working to offset the vacancy rate we have had over the last several years. Close to $4 million was spent for overtime just last budget season by the department.”

Mr. Andes said the grant, along with new pay raises the city has just provided and the approval of collective bargaining that could start next year, makes “it a great time to be a Richmond firefighter.”

Chief Carter said the department currently has 48 vacancies, but expects to fill 28 positions Oct. 20 when the latest training class graduates. He said the department will still need to recruit, train and hire 20 additional people to be fully staffed.

“These 72 positions will be part of the ongoing recruiting process,” he said. Whether all 72 are hired remains to be seen as the city must agree to pick up the salaries of any personnel that are employed using the federal dollars after the grant is used up.