YFD gets a major grant thanks to SAFER

Yuma Fire Department has cause to celebrate as they have been selected for a major grant. YFD is the honoree of the $1.4 million dollar “safer” grant. “Safer” standing for ‘staffing for adequate fire and emergency response.’ A competitive process, these are grants the city applies for and once written they are then evaluated. This grant not only will allow the station to hire 9 more firefighters, but it also allows the unit to bring back to service the 100 foot aerial latter that until now has been in reduced service due to budget cuts. Mike Erfert of YFD, explains the process that’s involved in evaluating these grants. “They bring fire service professionals together from around the country and you are evaluated. Your submissions are evaluated by your fire service peers. That makes it really special when you manage to get through that. These are folks that know about fire departments, know about the fire service, know about their needs and their procedures. So you have to know what you are talking about when you’re writing them,” said Erfert. Erfert adds that the main component to these grants getting approved is to see how the station would benefit from these funds if given. The state of Arizona alone has received four safer grants in 2016 with the city of Yuma receiving the largest one to date thus far.