A FEMA grant fund of $360 million now being offered to fire department and volunteer firefighter interest organizations that would help to boost the number of trained firefighters has already had an impact here.
FEMA opened applications for the Staffing for Adequate Fire and Emergency Response (SAFER) grant program last week.
The SAFER grant helps fire departments pay their firefighters in order to maintain industry standard staffing 24 hours a day. It offers $360 million directly to fire departments across the nation, and can be used only to pay personnel.
Grants are awarded based on an organization’s financial need. Bayshore Fire Rescue, which mostly serves Northeast Lee County, has been a long-time recipient.
Chief Doug Underwood explained how the SAFER grant has kept the department strong and serving the community.
“It started after the 2008 crash when we started feeling the effects in 2010, 2011,” Underwood said. “With our financial need and distress we’ve been very successful to being high priority.”
The application asks organizations for the service area’s population, personnel costs, and other data that show monetary gaps that need to be filled.
Though the SAFER grant can only be used to compensate staff, it allows departments to save money for other costs that may be difficult to cover without assistance.
Underwood expressed how helpful Bayshore Fire’s previous grant has been since it was awarded in 2021.
“They 100% pay for three years worth of three firefighters, three full years of salaries, benefits, and everything associated with it,” he said. “It was a $637,000 total award over a three year period.”
Underwood added that after this year, the department should be financially able to keep all three employees funded by the grant.
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