06/07/2025
🚨 Public Service Announcement🚨
The City of Kannapolis members in Public Safety need your support. They are experiencing issues with truck replacement, staffing, and employee benefits being stripped away in an already difficult economy.
Apparatus
The city has a very aging fleet that is making operation difficult, as well as increasing maintenance costs. In the current manufacturing market of fire trucks, the lead times on delivery of apparatus averages 4 years or more with numerous manufacturers. NFPA 1900 recommends the standard of 15-year frontline service, followed by 5-10 years reserve status. Trucks exceeding 25 years of age are recommended for complete retirement from the fleet. Also, NFPA 1912 recommends that after 15 years of service, apparatus should be evaluated for refurbishment. Although NFPA standards are a recommendation, they are put into place to protect the citizens of the community, as well as the personnel that operate them to ensure they are in an above standard quality for service. Not following these recommendations could mean extended out of service times for repairs, and apparatus not operating like they should on incident scenes. The City of Kannapolis is well behind in numerous aspects within these standards with no plan for purchase or replacement in the near future accompanied by longer build times. The city operates 5 frontline engines, 2 frontline ladders, 1 frontline rescue, 1 frontline tanker; as well as 3 reserve engines, 1 traffic unit, and 1 reserve ladder.
Frontline engines: 11(2015 with 139,### miles), 21 (2013 with unknown mileage; odometer replaced and currently at 57,### miles), 31 (2018 with 80,### miles), 41 (2008 with 185,### miles), 51 (2024 with 7,000 miles; ordered in 2020)
Frontline ladders: 14 (2009 with 132,### miles), 34 (2017 with 68,### miles)
Rescue: 10 (1995 with 200,### miles)
Tanker: 28 (2005 with 173,### miles)
Reserve engines: 12 (1994 with 9,000 miles), 42 (1995 with 156,### miles), 52 (2002 with 192,### miles)
Traffic unit: (1995 with 89,### miles)
Reserve ladder: 54 (2000 with unknown mileage; odometer replaced and currently has 40,### miles)
Staffing
A typical shift in Kannapolis composed of 29 personnel but this includes a Battalion Chief and Safety Officer. This number is only feasible when every truck is riding full due to no vacancies, time off, or injuries. NFPA 1710 outlines the minimum staffing requirements for career fire departments. Its recommendation is a minimum of four firefighters per engine or ladder, as well as 15-17 firefighters on the scene for a full alarm assignment in a structure fire. In high hazard situations such as multi family residences and large commercial occupancies, the standard recommends six firefighters per engine or ladder. More times than not, your typical working fire in the city will completely deplete the response coverage and not leave any coverage for other emergencies without relying solely on mutual aid. Your firefighters in Kannapolis cover an area of 34 square miles with a population density estimated at 59,321 (2023). These brave men and women respond to 10,000 plus calls annually. The city currently has a frontline engine staffed with only three personnel without a plan to add the fourth anytime in the near future (this has been shut down numerous times in previous years budgets). There is also a need for an additional on shift command officer (Battalion). The city currently has 1 to run the entire city with the only support being mutual aid departments or off duty command staff with extended response times. In addition to fire related responses, the department is certified in numerous Technical Rescue disciplines (Heavy Rescue, Confined Space, High Angle, Agriculture and Machinery). These disciplines add to the payload of personnel responding to even more incidents without a staffed rescue. This is below the standard recommended by NFPA.
Western and Eastern Coverage Areas
The western and eastern areas of the city have a reduction in fire service coverage. The western area is contracted with Odell Volunteer Fire Department to provide the minimum but still below the NFPA standard coverage of 4 personnel per truck consistently. In these areas, coverage would solely rely on Odell and mutual aid for timely response. In most of the areas within Western Kannapolis, your closest Kannapolis Engine would have a 10+ minute response. Your closest Kannapolis Ladder would have a 15+ minute response time. For the eastern response area (Old Beatty Ford Rd), there is currently no contract in place. Response in these areas would solely rely on either mutual aid, or extended responses from Kannapolis trucks.
Employee Benefits
The city halted many capital investments three years ago to focus more on employee recruitment and retention. Now that focus has already been changed or taken away without reason, as well as no major capital investments for public safety. The city originally had a developmental pay phase that was equivalent of a 15 percent pay raise above base salary over three years for each position classification to be competitive and bring you up from starting pay after hire or a promotion. In 2023, it was proposed and approved to change the developmental pay phase to the midpoint of the salary range instead of the first 15 percent. This was to stay in line with a competitive market as well as become a big asset and recruitment tool. Now, the developmental pay phase has been completely taken away. Raises now are based strictly on COLA (Cost of Living Allowance) and Merit Raises on a sliding scale (1-3). Within this sliding scale, a 1.5 evaluation score rounds up to a 2, but a 2.5 evaluation score rounds down to a 2. It was projected that less than 10 percent of employees would receive a 3 point evaluation score to meet the standard bell curve within the city. This means almost 80 percent of the employees would receive a lesser raise than proposed and approved in the recruitment and retention plan. Employees are also at a disadvantage for other benefits within the city. Although, healthcare coverage for the employee is free if you satisfy the health check in place, dependent coverage is upwards of 500 dollars per month for children and 1000 dollars per month for family plans. This is a very difficult expenditure to suffice in an already high priced economy. The city does still implement early separation allowance, but this benefit is declining in competitiveness as other towns and cities are implementing or proposing this as well.
In conclusion, the public safety sector of the City of Kannapolis is suffering from little support for logistical needs. Within the last 5 years, the city has provided the department with two station remodels and two engines but with lead times on manufacturing and construction cost, the department is still significantly behind with their needs to provide above standard coverage. The department currently holds an ISO rating of Class 1 from the Department of Insurance from the state. This is the highest class level there is which can significantly benefit your insurance premiums. In 2025, approximately 30 departments across the entire state hold this level, which is a very significant accomplishment. The men and women of this department put their life on the line 24/7 365 days a year to provide the best possible service for the citizens of Kannapolis. They are lacking significantly in support from city administration. We urge you to express your concerns to city council and city administration as to why public safety is not a higher priority within city administration.
