SCHUMER: AFTER STANDING WITH FIREFIGHTERS ACROSS UPSTATE NY, ANNOUNCES CONGRESS PASSES FIRE GRANTS & SAFETY ACT TODAY, SENDING TO THE PRESIDENT’S DESK TO BE SIGNED INTO LAW PROTECTING VITAL FED LIFELINE WHICH HAS DELIVERED $700+ MILLION TO PURCHASE LIFESAVING EQUIPMENT AND HIRE NY FIREFIGHTERS TO KEEP OUR COMMUNITIES SAFE

Schumer-Created Programs—AFG & SAFER—Critical Fed Funding Streams Which Directly Staff And Purchase Lifesaving Equipment To Keep Communities And Have Delivered $100+M To Upstate NY Fire Departments in Past 3 Years Alone

Schumer: After Sounding Alarm, Lifesaving Fed Funding For Our Heroic NY Fire Departments Will Be Protected For Years To Come

After standing with firefighters across NY, U.S. Senate Majority Leader Charles E. Schumer today announced the Fire Grants and Safety Act, which would save a vital lifeline for fire departments statewide, has passed the Senate and will be sent to the president’s desk to be signed into law.

Schumer explained this bill will reauthorize the main federal firefighter funding programs – the Assistance to Firefighters Grant (AFG) Program and Staffing for Adequate Fire and Emergency Response (SAFER) Program – which help recruit and hire new firefighters and purchase lifesaving equipment, both of which would have been eliminated without this critical bill. 

“Our New York firefighters are heroes, whether it’s our larger departments in cities like Buffalo & Syracuse or the smaller volunteer departments protecting suburban and rural communities throughout Upstate New York. Our firefighters represent the best of our community; they rush to danger every day to protect us, putting all else aside to help those in need. I’m proud to have led the Fire Grants and Safety Act to passage which preserves the federal lifeline for funding to our fire departments to purchase equipment and hire new personnel to keep our communities safe,” said Senator Schumer. “Since the start of the AFG & SAFER programs, which I helped create, New York has $700+ million in federal funding through these critical federal lifelines. That is money for new fire trucks, better equipment and to hire more firefighters in the Upstate communities that need them most. This legislation shows our firefighters that we have their back, and I am proud to finally say it is on its way to the president’s desk to be signed into law.”

Schumer, who helped create these programs, said the new bill, which has now passed the Senate, would extend this funding through Fiscal Year (FY) 2030, preserving this critical funding that has delivered nearly $700 million to firefighters across the Empire State. Schumer led the bill to passage in the Senate last year, but it had stalled in the House. Now, after months of advocacy, it will once again pass the Senate today and be sent to President’s desk to be signed into law. 

Schumer said that losing this funding would be felt especially hard for firefighters across Upstate New York, who have received over $100 million in federal funding through these programs in just the past three years.

Schumer traveled across Upstate New York, from the Capital Region to the Southern Tier to the Hudson Valley, to sound the alarm on the potential elimination of this lifesaving federal funding for NY fire departments, promising he would not relent until the bill had passed the Senate. Schumer originally created the AFG Program in 2002, which later expanded to also include the SAFER (SAFER) Program, and the Fire Prevention and Safety (FP&S) programs. 

Schumer explained that these federal programs have been a lifeline for firefighters and have become essential to their continued operations. Fire departments, especially those in Upstate New York, often face budget shortfalls and extremely high costs that mean they cannot purchase the modern equipment they need to combat emergencies and keep firefighters safe. Schumer said that the AFG and SAFER grants have positively benefited fire departments in every corner of Upstate New York, and with the passage of the Fire Grants and Safety Act, NY firefighters will continue to receive the federal support they need to purchase lifesaving equipment and hire more firefighters throughout Upstate.

Specifically, the Fire Grants and Safety Act reauthorizes the U.S. Fire Administration, the Assistance to Firefighters Grants Program, and the Staffing for Adequate Fire and Emergency Response Grant Program through Fiscal Year (FY) 2030. The bill also extends the sunset for both SAFER and AFG from 2024 to 2032 and increases the authorization for the U.S. Fire Administration by about $20 million, while maintaining the authorized funding level for SAFER and AFG at $750 million each.

 Schumer said that if the programs did not exist, that would mean lifesaving equipment and the hundreds of New York firefighters that have been hired, or recruited in the case of volunteer departments, thanks to this funding might never have happened. For example, last year, the Troy and Saratoga Springs fire departments received nearly $8 million to hire 30 new firefighters, and in 2019, the Buffalo Fire Department received nearly $10 million to hire 50 new firefighters. Over the past few years, multiple fire departments have received millions to purchase new ladder trucks, radio systems, self-contained breathing apparatus devices, cardiac monitoring devices, and other lifesaving equipment.

The AFG and SAFER grant programs are both administered by the Department of Homeland Security’s Federal Emergency Management Agency to provide competitive funding directly to fire departments and volunteer firefighter interest organizations to purchase essential equipment and help them increase the number of trained, “front line” firefighters available in their communities.

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