FY 2008 Staffing for Adequate Fire and Emergency Response (SAFER)

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The SAFER (Staffing for Adequate Fire and Emergency Response) grants are awarded under a competitive process and managed by the Federal Emergency Management Agency’s Assistance to Firefighters Grants (AFG) Program Office. SAFER grants provide financial assistance to help fire departments increase their cadre of frontline firefighters. The goal is to assist the local fire departments’ staffing and deployment capabilities, in order to respond to emergencies whenever they occur, assuring that their communities have adequate protection from fire and fire-related hazards. The SAFER grants have two activities that will help grantees in this endeavor: (1) hiring of firefighters and (2) recruitment and retention of volunteer firefighters. (1) The Hiring of Firefighters Activity involves a grant with a five-year period of performance that provides fire departments with funding to pay a portion of the salaries and benefits of newly hired firefighters. These grants are awarded directly to volunteer, combination, and career fire departments to help the departments increase their number of frontline firefighters. Having more firefighters on staff should enhance the local fire department’s abilities to comply with staffing, response, and operational standards established by NFPA and OSHA. (2) Recruitment and Retention of Volunteer Firefighters Activity involves grants is to assist fire departments with the recruitment and retention of volunteer firefighters. The grants are intended to create a net increase in the number of trained, certified, and competent firefighters capable of safely responding to emergencies likely to occur within the grantee’s geographic response area. The primary focus of this activity is the recruitment and retention of volunteer firefighters who are involved with, or trained in, the operations of firefighting and emergency response. Applicants are allowed to submit only one application during this application period and may include either one or both activities.

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