Durbin Announces a Nearly $250,000 FEMA Grant to Park Forest Firefighters
[WASHINGTON, DC] – U.S. Sen. Dick Durbin (D-IL) announced today that the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), part of the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), has awarded a $198,183 grant to the Park Forest Fire Department for hiring initiatives aimed at increasing the number of frontline firefighters.
“Our nation's firefighters are called upon day after day to protect America's citizens,” Durbin said. “As these brave men and women put themselves in harm’s way, we must ensure that they are equipped with the best resources possible to do their jobs well and that our fire departments have enough trained firefighters.”
This funding is provided through the Fiscal Year 2010 DHS’s Staffing for Adequate Fire and Emergency Response (SAFER) program. The SAFER program seeks to enhance a department’s ability to maintain 24-hour staffing and ensures that the community has adequate protection from fire and fire-related hazards. In FY2007, Illinois received more awards than any other state in the country – nearly $1.5 million of the $115 million in available federal funding to hire and recruit additional firefighters. In FY2010, the program will award approximately $420 million nationwide in competitive grants to fire departments and statewide or local firefighter interest groups.