Staffing for Adequate Fire and Emergency Response (SAFER)
Funding to help fire departments increase or keep the number of trained front-line firefighters. Money can pay firefighter salaries and fund recruitment and retention efforts, including for volunteer departments.
Who it is for
Career, volunteer, and combination fire departments, and volunteer firefighter interest organizations. EMS organizations that are part of a fire department may also qualify under the department's application.
Department types: Career, Volunteer, Combination
Before you start
How you apply: Apply directly to the funder.
Your department applies directly to FEMA. You do not go through your state.
Match required: Hiring grants have historically required a local cost-share that increases over the multi-year grant, though Congress has waived or reduced it in some years. Recruitment and retention grants generally have no match. Confirm current terms in the funding notice.
How to apply
- Register your department in SAM.gov if you are not already. Start early, it can take weeks.
- Log into FEMA GO at go.fema.gov, the system used for SAFER applications.
- Decide which activity you are applying for: hiring firefighters, or recruitment and retention. The application differs by activity.
- Build your case with staffing data, call volume, and what the additional or retained staffing will let you do.
- Submit through FEMA GO before the window closes and track your application there.
Deadline: Annual, usually opening alongside AFG in spring. For FY2026 the window opened May 19, 2026 and closed June 22, 2026. Confirm the current window on the program page. (Annual cycle)
Funding: Covers firefighter salary and benefits costs over the grant period. Total program funding was about $324 million in the most recent cycle.
Verified as of 2026-05-31. Programs are checked periodically against their official source. Funding details and deadlines change. Confirm the current requirements on the official program page before you apply.