The City of Fort Mitchell was awarded a grant from the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA)’s Staffing for Adequate Fire and Emergency Response (SAFER) program.
The $664,652 award will fund a full-time employee to handle recruitment and retention in the fire department and six college interns who will have their tuition paid up to a pre-determined amount in exchange for service to the city’s fire department, Fire Chief Adam Fuller said.
Fuller said the city applied for the grant back in May.
The grant also has funding to add five new volunteers per year and will pay for their gear, EMT class cost, and basic firefighter training costs.
“We are very fortunate to have received this Federal funding from FEMA which will go a long way in helping our current and future Fire Department personnel,” said Mayor Jude Hehman.
According to FEMA, the purpose of the SAFER Grant Program is to provide funding directly to fire departments and volunteer firefighter interest organizations to assist in increasing the number of firefighters to help communities meet industry minimum standards and attain 24-hour staffing to provide adequate protection from fire and fire-related hazards, and to fulfill traditional missions of fire departments.
-Staff report