Today, September 27th, 2021, Rep. Mariannette Miller-Meeks (IA-02) announced a federal grant has been awarded to a fire department in Iowa’s Second District.
The Jefferson-Monroe Fire Department for the city of Swisher, Iowa, was recently awarded a grant from the Department of Homeland Security’s (DHS) Staffing for Adequate Fire and Emergency Response (SAFER) Grant Program for the Fiscal Year 2020 (FY20). This program is administered by the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) in cooperation with the U.S. Fire Administration.
Through the grant, the Jefferson-Monroe Fire Department will receive $394,266.00 for recruitment and retention.
“I am pleased to see that FEMA has awarded additional grants to a deserving fire department in our community. This grant will specifically work to assist the department with recruitment and retention of firefighters,” said Miller-Meeks. “I encourage DHS and FEMA to continue allocating these grants to support local fire departments. I will work with my colleagues on the Homeland Security Committee to support this mission any way that I can.”
Background:
SAFER Grant Program is one of three grant programs that constitute FEMA’s focus on enhancing the safety of the public and firefighters with respect to fire and related hazards. The FY20 SAFER Program will award $355 million to an estimated 300 eligible fire departments and volunteer firefighter interest organizations to assist fire departments in increasing the number of firefighters to meet industry minimum standards and attain 24-hour staffing to provide adequate fire protection from fire and fire-related hazards.
Using a competitive process that is informed by fire service subject matter experts, grants are awarded to applicants whose requests best address the priorities of the FY 2020 SAFER Program.
Original source can be found here
