Grand Junction Fire Department recieves grant from FEMA

GRAND JUNCTION, Colo. (KJCT) -The Grand Junction Fire Department (GJFD) received a grant called Staffing for Adequate Fire and Emergency Response (SAFER) from FEMA on Thursday.

FEMA created SAFER to directly provide funding to fire departments to help increase or maintain the number of trained “front line” workers.

The grant, worth $5.9 million, will help the fire department cover salary and benefits for 21 firefighters hired in 2022 for Fire Station 8 over the next three years.

Station 8 will be Grand Junction’s newest fire station and built before the station seven rebuilding process.

The positions were budgeted through the First Responder Tax and will continue until 2025, when the grant funds expire.

In total, FEMA has $350 million available in grants for about 300 fire departments across the county. GJFD received is the largest in Colorado from this grant.

In perspective, in 2015, the GJFD received a grant worth $515,000 that covered the salary and benefits of just three additional Firefighter-Paramedic positions.

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