Our firefighters and first responders are being utilized to their fullest capacity with the demands from Covid-19, protests and riots, wildfires, and being severely understaffed with a lack of resources and funding. These added stressors can be detrimental to firefighters, their communities and the equipment that keeps them safe. Our mission is to give a voice to fire departments to make sure properly funded, equipped and staffed for the safety of firefighters and the people of their communities.
This month we launched a blog series that discusses the important tool we use to track where grants from the Assistance to Firefighters Grant Program are going. We discussed what the Assistance to Firefighters Grant Program is and the importance of applications to properly distribute such grants. This tool allows us to quantify how these grant funds are dispersed across the states and compare funding against metrics such as total number of firefighters and number of departments in each state. Despite the benefits of these grants, it takes a deeper dive into the numbers to see that a department can receive a small amount of grant money and still not be able to operate at the highest level needed. Local departments need help spreading the awareness of these issues to the public.
This year’s election is creeping close and that’s a chance for all of us to chose politician who understand these needs and will act in support of our local fire departments. Have you seen our 2020 Voter Guide yet?
Top News Stories:
- California wildfires: firefighters stretched thin as blazes grow rapidly
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- New Bedford firefighters’ union holds rally to save fire engine
- Sacramento firefighter union announces ‘strong opposition’ to ‘strong mayor’ ballot measure
- Federal firefighter asks for six specific reforms
