On January 15, 2010 the City of Ypsilanti Fire Department applied for Assistance to Fire Fighters SAFER GRANT to help offset staffing reductions that will take our department below OSHA requirements for an aggressive fire attack. We need letters of recommendations to support our application and hope you will provide a letter of support so that we can continue to protect the citizens of Ypsilanti and students and faculty at Eastern Michigan University.

The SAFER (Staffing for Adequate Fire and Emergency Response) grants program was created to provide funding directly to fire departments and volunteer firefighter interest organizations to help them increase the number of trained, frontline firefighters available in their communities.

The goal of SAFER is to enhance the local fire department’s ability to comply with staffing, response, and operational standards established by NFPA and OSHA (NFPA 1710 and/or NFPA 1720 and OSHA 1910.134). See page 5 of the 2009 SAFER Program Guidance or www.nfpa.org/SAFERActGrant for more details. Specifically, SAFER funds should assist local fire departments with increasing their staffing and deployment capabilities to respond to emergencies whenever they may occur. As a result of the enhanced staffing, response times should be sufficiently reduced with an appropriate number of personnel assembled at the incident scene. Also, the enhanced staffing should provide all front-line/first-due apparatus of SAFER grantees have a minimum of four trained personnel to meet the OSHA standards referenced above. Ultimately, a faster, safer, and more efficient incident scene will be established and communities will have more adequate protection from fire and fire-related hazards.

Letters of support should be sent to:

Mr. Timothy W. Manning, Deputy Administrator
DHS/FEMA/National Preparedness Directorate
500 C Street, SW
Washington, DC 20472

Letters of support may be faxed to: 202-786-9938 or 866-274-0942