Duval County

Acting Secretary of Dept. of Homeland Security visits Jacksonville to talk about SAFER Grant Program

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. — Chad. F. Wolf, the Acting Secretary of the Department of Homeland Security came to Jacksonville on Tuesday to visit Fire Station 1.

Wolf talked about the SAFER Grant, a grant created to make sure money is available for fire stations and volunteer fire stations to make sure they have enough people trained and available to serve communities.

QUICK FACTS:

  • SAFER Grant stands for Staffing for Adequate Fire and Emergency Response.
  • The goal of SAFER Grants is to enhance the local fire departments’ ability to do their jobs safely.
  • This a partnership between local, state, federal government to help first responders. However, Jacksonville Mayor Lenny Curry and Jacksonville Fire and Rescue Department still must apply for the SAFER Grant. JFRD Chief Keith Powers said Curry approved the application and it was submitted Tuesday morning.
  • “This visit symbolizes a first, to building a robust firefighting community,” Wolf said.
  • SAFER Grant for 2020, will not only be used to hire new JFRD firefighters, but will also be used to retain current firefighters Rightwards and those that have been laid off.