Eased SAFER restrictions aim to protect firefighter jobs

By FireRescue1 Staff

WASHINGTON — President Obama approved new rules Wednesday allowing fire departments to use funding from the Staffing for Adequate Fire and Emergency Response (SAFER) grant program to rehire laid off firefighters and prevent staffing reductions.

The new guidelines — written by and lobbied for by the IAFF because of the current financial crisis. — will apply to the $210 million designated for SAFER for Fiscal Year 2009.

The IAFF plans to immediately begin working with DHS to develop new rules outlining how SAFER grants can be used to address current staffing cuts.

"Changes in this supplemental appropriation extend a lifeline to fire departments across the nation at a time when firefighters are losing their jobs," IAFF General President Harold Schaitberger said.

Fire departments had been discouraged from using the funding under previous restrictions that required departments to retain firefighters hired with SAFER grants for at least five years and prohibited reductions in staffing during the same period.

The House of Representatives is expected this week to consider provisions in the 2010 DHS Appropriations bill that would designate $420 million for SAFER funding and at least $380 million for AFG funding, with two representatives expected to put forth an amendment for an additional $40 million in AFG funding.