BARNSTABLE – Barnstable Fire reports that the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) announced Friday $41.3 million in direct assistance grants to 105 fire departments nationwide through the agency’s Fiscal Year (FY) 2019 Staffing for Adequate Fire and Emergency Response (SAFER) grant program. Additional phases will soon be announced.
The Barnstable Fire District will receive $305,226 from FEMA for a Staffing for Adequate Fire and Emergency Response (SAFER) grant. This three-year grant will be used to hire a new firefighter.
EASTHAM – Recently, Eastham Fire reported that they received notification from the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) that their 2019 Assistance to Firefighters (AFG) Grant Application had been approved and would receive funding in the amount of $47,500.00 to replace an aging air compressor used to refill the air bottles used when fighting fires. In providing the award FEMA stated “after considerable consideration, the recipients project described in the narrative was found to be consistent with the Assistance to Firefighters Grant program’s purpose and worthy of an award”.
The SAFER grant program was created to provide funding directly to fire departments and volunteer firefighter organizations to help increase the number of trained firefighters available in our communities. The goal of the SAFER grant program is to assist local fire departments with staffing and deployment capabilities to respond to emergencies and assure that communities have adequate protection from fire and fire-related hazards. With enhanced staffing levels, recipients should experience a reduction in response times and an increase in the number of trained personnel assembled at the incident scene.
The grant is funded through FEMA’s Assistance to Firefighters Grant (AFG) program. The grant applications are submitted from each agency directly to FEMA, where the applications are reviewed and scored by fire service personnel from throughout the nation.
FEMA obligates funding for this project directly to the recipient agencies. It is the recipient agency’s responsibility to manage their grant award within federal guidelines with technical assistance and monitoring provided by FEMA Fire Program Specialists.
