PATERSON – U.S. Rep. Bill Pascrell, Jr. (D-NJ-08) today announced that the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) has awarded a new federal FIRE Assistance to Firefighters Grant (AFG) to the Paterson Fire Department in the amount of $566,660. The grant will help the fire department provide measures for the firefighters’ fitness and protection including personal alerting systems that will help locate fallen firefighters and regulators for the firefighters’ self-contained breathing apparatuses.
“In Paterson, fire can break out in a single-family house, a high-rise apartment building or an industrial warehouse. These firefighters are ready for anything,” said Pascrell, who introduced the Firefighter Investment Response Enhancement (FIRE) Act in March 1999 “We have an obligation to provide these brave professionals with every advantage available to keep the risk to their lives at an absolute minimum. The FIRE Act was written here in the Eighth Congressional District with the purpose of helping communities support their first responders.”
Paterson Fire Chief Michael Postorino, who leads a department of 330 professional firefighters, said the grant was especially appreciated during the tough economic times that have put constraints on municipal budgets.
“We never would have been able to afford this on our own,” Postorino said of the new equipment. “It’s another safety tool we will be able to utilize to make sure our firefighters have the best chance of surviving the worst situations. Congressman Pascrell has made firefighter protection a national priority, and we are grateful to him for it.”
The federal grant will also help provide baseline physical examinations for each of the department’s firefighters and help purchase exercise equipment for all seven of the department’s firehouses. The City of Paterson is also contributing $141,665, a 20 percent matching of the federal grant, as is required by the AFG program.
This is the fifth FIRE Act AFG grant to be awarded to the Paterson Fire Department, making a total of $1.3 million awarded to the department since 2001. Rep. Pascrell also secured a massive Staffing for Adequate Fire and Emergency Response (SAFER) grant of $6.4 million in 2005 that allowed the department to hire 53 firefighters.
The Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) administers the F.I.R.E. Assistance to Firefighters Grants (AFG) directly to fire departments. Since 2001, the AFG has provided approximately $4 billion in grants to first-responder organizations to obtain much-needed emergency response equipment, personal protective equipment, firefighting and emergency vehicles, and training.
In November 2009, the U.S. House of Representatives reauthorized - with broad bipartisan support - Rep. Pascrell’s original AFG program with $1 billion per fiscal year from 2010 to 2014.
Rep. Pascrell originally sponsored the SAFER Program legislation, which became law in 2003.
The SAFER program makes grants to local fire departments to assist in the hiring of firefighters. The program will receive up to $1.2 billion per fiscal year from 2010 to 2014 through the November authorization bill.
New Jersey fire departments have received more than $97 million in AFG awards during fiscal years 2001-08 and $17 million in SAFER grants during fiscal years 2005-08.
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