The City of Phoenix has won a major federal grant to hire 50 more firefighters over the next two years. With this $9 million Staffing for Adequate Fire and Emergency Response (SAFER) grant, Phoenix has brought home more than $36 million in federal funds in the past five years to support the Phoenix Fire and Police department's capabilities to prepare for and respond to a host of threats to our community's safety. This is in addition to more than $28 million in regional homeland security funds Phoenix has won for the city and its local partners.
I have had the honor to advocate in Washington D.C. several times since 2012 for our city's fair share of funds to hire more first responders. Our federal advocacy is working, and I pledge to continue efforts in the capital to fight for funds to support our Police and Fire departments. I will be in Washington soon to personally thank Federal Emergency Management Administration (FEMA) representatives for approving our grant and to immediately begin discussions on the next round of funding.
I want to thank Fire Chief Kara Kalkbrenner for her continued leadership and advocacy on our SAFER grants, my colleagues on the council, our city staff and representatives in Washington for working together. This $9 million grant comes less than a month after Phoenix received the Assistance to Firefighters Grant (AFG) award for $591,726 to provide regional Incident Safety Officer System (ISOS) training for 100 company and command officers from Phoenix Fire and 50 attendees collectively from Buckeye, Glendale, Scottsdale and Tempe.
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