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"This grant will help ensure the brave men and women in the Elmwood Park Fire Department will have every advantage to keep themselves and families in their community safe," U.S. Rep. Bill Pascrell, Jr. (D-NJ) said Thursday in announcing the Department of Homeland Security Assistance to Firefighters Grant Program award.
The Firefighter Investment and Response Enhancement (FIRE) Act, crafted and shepherded by Pascrell, is funding the grant, bringing the total awarded to Elmwood Park firefighters so far to $453,386.
"As the founding father of the post-9/11 FIRE Act, Congressman Pascrell has shown to be a person who understands what first-responders across the country face," Elmwood Park Fire Chief Michael Pressler said. "The Congressman has been a true friend, not only to first responders in New Jersey, but across the entire country."
The FIRE Act, signed into law by President Clinton in 2000, has helped provide more than $6 billion in AFG grants to local fire departments to purchase equipment and hire firefighters.
New Jersey fire departments have received nearly $155 million in funding.
Pascrell, who is chairman of the Congressional Fire Services Caucus, will host a workshop on the grant program, along with U.S. Senators Bob Menendez and Cory Booker, on Sept. 1 at Felician University’s Education Commons Room 103, One Felician Way in Rutherford.
FEMA’s fire program specialists will conducted the workshop and lead a Q&A session to field questions or concerns.
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