Detroit—Mayor Dave Bing announced Friday that the City of plans to rehire 26 laid-off firefighters with a $5.6 million FEMA grant.
The grant, awarded through Staffing for Adequate Fire and Emergency Response (SAFER) will cover two years of salaries and benefits for firefighters who were laid off on Aug. 10, 2012.
“I am extremely pleased to accept a second SAFER grant on behalf of the City and the people of Detroit,” Bing said in a statement. “Public safety is and absolutely must be our top priority. The SAFER program makes Detroiters safer, and it doesn’t get any better than that.”
The $5.6 million comes as a second grant after FEMA awarded Detroit the largest grant SAFER’s history: $22.5 million for salaries and benefits that prevented 108 firefighters from being laid off over the summer.
The federal grant funds for firefighters were awarded after a grant request written by Detroit Fire Department staff members, in collaboration with grant writers funded by the Detroit Public Safety Foundation.
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