Schumer Urges FEMA to Renew Nassau & Suffolk's SAFER Programs; Millions in Federal Funding Will Help Local Students Pay for College While Serving Their Communities

Press Release

U.S. Senator Charles E. Schumer sounded the alarm regarding the pending end to a vital volunteer firefighter recruitment tool on Long Island, due to a lack of federal funds. He urged the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) to address this critical problem by agreeing to renew the federal grant that Nassau County and Suffolk County use to provide volunteer firefighters with tuition assistance funds. Currently the program is set to run out of funds in fall of 2014. The Staffing for Adequate Fire and Emergency Response (SAFER) program is FEMA's recruitment and retention grant program aimed at bolstering local firefighting forces. The SAFER grant will help Long Island continue its tuition assistance program, which subsidizes tuition costs while volunteer firefighters service local communities. With 71 independent fire districts, Nassau County is requesting $1.5 million in funding and with 109 independent fire districts, Suffolk County is requesting $2.8 million in funding. With the success of this tuition assistance program on Long Island, Schumer urged FEMA to support Nassau and Suffolk County's SAFER applications.

"Communities across Long Island face a serious shortage of volunteer firefighters, which is why we must keep an immensely successful recruitment program -- the tuition assistance program for firefighters - from running dry. This tuition assistance program is one of the most important tools in our belts to keep recruitment numbers up and our communities safe," said Schumer. "In addition to helping keep fire departments staffed at adequate levels, it allows us, in a small way, to thank the volunteer firefighters for the lifesaving work that they do. I am urging FEMA to approve this critical grant for Nassau and Suffolk so that limited staffing at departments across Long Island does not throw fuel on the fire."

Nassau County Executive Ed Mangano stated, "With fire departments struggling to recruit new volunteers, Senator Schumer and I partnered to provide a free community college tuition incentive to those joining the fire service. I commend Senator Schumer for securing the initial funds for this program and for his tireless efforts to secure an additional $1.5 million from FEMA for recruitment efforts over the next two years."

The goal of the SAFER grant program is to enhance the ability of grantees to attain and maintain 24-hour staffing and to assure that their communities have adequate protection from fire and fire-related hazards. The objective of the program is to award grants directly to volunteers in fire departments to help the departments increase the number of frontline firefighters.

In 2009, with Schumer's support, FEMA awarded Nassau County and Suffolk County $4.3 million in federal funding through the SAFER grant, in which $2.1 million went to Nassau County. This federal grant helped Long Island set up this critical recruitment program, the funding for which is expected to run out by the fall 2014 semester. Schumer is pushing for a new SAFER Grant so that the current firefighters participating in the tuition assistance program are not cut off, and so that Nassau and Suffolk Counties can continue to recruit with this program and keep their departments fully equipped to protect their communities.

There are currently 8,970 current active volunteer firefighters within Nassau County and 1,433 active volunteer firefighters joined the fire departments the last three years. There are currently 9,329 active volunteer firefighters within Suffolk County and 1,689 active volunteer firefighters joined the fire departments over the last three years.

Schumer today called on FEMA to approve Nassau County and Suffolk County's SAFER application. Schumer explained that the SAFER grant has given hundreds of young men and women the opportunity to go to college while serving their community. Schumer noted that the program has successfully kept young men and women on Long Island while they build a career locally. Young men and women who didn't have the means to go to college or thought a college education was not for them are now graduating with degrees in fire science, emergency management, nursing, education, etc. Schumer also pointed to Superstorm Sandy and the tremendous role that many of these volunteer firefighters played in helping impacted communities during and after the storm.

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