The International Association of Fire Chiefs (IAFC) is asking Congress and the Trump Administration to help offset firefighter job losses amid COVID-19, requesting $10 billion for the nation’s fire departments.
A recently released IAFC survey maintains COVID-19 related budget cuts have resulted in the layoff or furlough of at least 935 fire department employees, including front-line firefighters, EMTs, and paramedics while projecting as many as 30,000 fire department jobs will be lost this year and next.
“The same firefighters the country considered essential in battling COVID-19 are suddenly told they’re no longer needed,” International Association of Fire Chiefs (IAFC) President Gary Ludwig said. “With almost 1,000 firefighters and support personnel missing from the front lines at this early stage, it’s clear these cuts will be deep and long-standing. Significant and meaningful federal funding is essential to prevent the largest cuts to fire and EMS since the Great Depression.”
IAFC officials said a pair of grant programs authorized by Congress years ago, Staffing for Adequate Fire & Emergency Response Grants (SAFER) and Assistance for Firefighters Grants (AFG), are the most efficient means to get help to communities facing the loss of fire protection and emergency medical services.
“These losses mean our fire departments are less prepared to deal with COVID-19 and every other emergency,” Ludwig said. “Fire and EMS stations will close. Our citizens will wait longer for help when they call 911. Firefighters need heroes, too. We need Congress and the White House to act now.”