DETROIT – The City of Detroit is re-hiring 26 laid-off firefighters after receiving a $5.6 million Staffing for Adequate Fire and Emergency Response (SAFER) grant.
The grant comes from the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), and covers two years of salaries and benefits for firefighters who were laid off on Aug. 10th.
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"I am extremely pleased to accept a second SAFER grant on behalf of the City and the people of Detroit," Mayor Bing said. "Public safety is and absolutely must be our top priority, and this grant allows us to get firefighters who were recently sidelined back on the job protecting Detroit neighborhoods. The SAFER program makes Detroiters safer, and it doesn't get any better than that," Bing said.
In June FEMA awarded Detroit the largest grant in the history of the SAFER program: $22.5 million for salaries and benefits that prevented 108 firefighters from being laid off.
The June award was a result of a grant request written by Detroit Fire Department staff members, in collaboration with grant writers funded by the Detroit Public Safety Foundation.