Staffing for Adequate Fire and Emergency Response (SAFER)

The goal of the SAFER Grant Program is to assist local fire departments with staffing and deployment capabilities in order to respond to emergencies and assure that communities have adequate protection from fire and fire-related hazards. Local fire departments accomplish this by improving staffing and deployment capabilities, so they may more effectively and safely respond to emergencies. With enhanced staffing levels, recipients should experience a reduction in response times and an increase in the number of trained personnel assembled at the incident scene. The authorizing authority for the program is Section 34 of the Federal Fire Prevention and Control Act of 1974, Pub. L. No. 93-498, as amended (15 U.S.C § 2229a). The SAFER Program directly supports Goal 3 of the 2022-2026 FEMA Strategic Plan to Promote and Sustain a Ready FEMA and Prepared Nation.

Performance Measures:
Grant Recipients:
• Number of front-line personnel hired
• Number of volunteer firefighters recruited
• Number of firefighters retained
SAFER Program Office
• Number of grants awarded
• Number of grants completed

This program is restricted to the jurisdictions/organizations described in program guidance documents. In summary, for the purpose of this program, "State" is defined as the fifty States, the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico, the U.S. Virgin Islands, Guam, American Samoa, and the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands. The Alaska Village Initiative, a nonprofit organization incorporated in the State of Alaska, shall also be considered eligible for purposes of receiving assistance under this program on behalf of Alaska Native villages. A "fire department" is defined as an agency or organization that has a formally recognized arrangement with a State, territory, local, or tribal authority (city, county, parish, fire district, township, town, or other governing body) to provide fire suppression on a first-due basis to a population within a fixed geographical area. Fire departments may be comprised of members who are all volunteer, combination volunteer/career, or all career.

Local or tribal communities serviced by the fire department including, local businesses, homeowners and property owners.

2 CFR 200, Uniform Administrative Requirements, Cost Principles, and Audit Requirements for Federal Awards applies to this program.
The NOFO for this listing will be posted on Grants.gov.
SAFER application materials are available through the Assistance to Firefighters Grant Program’s FEMA GO (FEMA Grants Outcomes) application portal, at https://go.fema.gov. All applicants for this award must: 1. Be registered and active in System for Award Management (SAM) in order to apply; 2. Provide a valid Unique Entity Identifier (UEI) number in its application; and 3. Continue to maintain an active SAM registration with current information at all times during which it has an active federal award or an application or plan under consideration by DHS FEMA.

Applications or plans are peer reviewed and subsequently also reviewed by DHS program and administrative staff. Any issues or concerns noted in the application might be addressed with the successful applicant prior to the award being issued.

Refer to NOFO