Federal Emergency Management Agency · Public Facilities
Staffing for Adequate Fire and Emergency Response (SAFER)
Funds hiring and rehiring of firefighters by career and volunteer fire departments. Also supports recruitment and retention of volunteers.
Program facts
- Typical award
- $100K – $5M
- Non-federal match
- Varies by NOFO
- Audience
- Cities, towns, counties, and tribal governments
- Application window
- Annual NOFO.
- Typical prep time
- 6–12 weeks
- Statutory authority
- Federal Fire Prevention and Control Act §34 (15 U.S.C. §2229a)
Catalog entry last verified 2026-05-24 · Verify on the agency page →
Eligibility at a glance
- Cities are eligible applicants.
Hiring grants typically have a 0% match in early years; mandatory retention requirements apply post-grant. Amounts and timing approximate; verify directly with administering agency.
How Strategic Pursuit scores this program
When you run a city dossier, Strategic Pursuit cross-checks the city's demographics, federal award history, disaster history, and CEJST burden categories against this program's eligibility and strategic-fit signals. You see an explicit eligibility / strategic / competitive grade — backed by source citations — instead of a generic "match" badge.
Planning purposes only. Award ranges, match percentages, and application windows on this page summarize the latest publicly available agency guidance and are approximate. Always verify the binding NOFO on the administering agency's page before applying.