FEMA to make available $396M for Staffing for Adequate Fire and Emergency Response grant program

The Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) will make $360 million in funding available through the Fiscal Year 2024 Staffing for Adequate Fire and Emergency Response (SAFER) grant program.

The program funds fire prevention programs and supports firefighter health and safety research and development. Eligible applicants are fire departments and volunteer firefighter seeking to increase or maintain the number of trained firefighters

Funding can be used to help communities meet industry minimum standards and attain 24-hour staffing, and increase the number of firefighters to provide adequate fire protection from fire and fire-related hazards.

In addition, FEMA will award $36 million through the FY 2024 Fire Prevention and Safety (FP&S) grant program. Eligible applicants are nonprofit organizations such as research foundations, public safety institutes, universities, public health, and occupational health and injury prevention institutions.

The application period for both programs opens on Friday and close on July 3. Interested applicants can visit FEMA’s website or www.grants.gov for opportunity and technical assistance documents. FEMA also will post information on upcoming webinars on its website.

The SAFER program has awarded approximately $5.2 billion since 2005, and the FP&S grant program has awarded nearly $900 million since 2002.

Last year, there were 61 firefighter fatalities in the United States.