(Yuba-Sutter, CA) – For the first time in almost two decades, the Sutter County Fire Department has hired new full-time firefighters. Four were sworn in Monday.

The hires are made possible through the ‘Staffing for Adequate Fire & Emergency Response Grant’ and come on the heels of the Sutter County Fire Chief announcing at the beginning of the year that the Sutter Fire Station would be reducing service due to “ongoing staff shortages.”

Now, Sutter County’s Public Information Officer tells the Appeal-Democrat that the four new hires will allow the county to have two full-time firefighters assigned to each shift at one of the three stations in Service Area F – covering Live Oak, Sutter and Oswald-Tudor, without requiring mandatory overtime for existing firefighters.