Detroit Fire Department fails to apply for $15 million state grant allocated for gear
(CBS DETROIT) — Nearly 200 fire departments across the state, including in Metro Detroit, applied for state funding to equip firefighters with additional gear. However, the Detroit Fire Department failed to do so.
The $15 million comes from the Michigan Department of Labor and Economic Opportunity, through the Firefighter Turnout Gear Program.
"It puts money back in our communities from our state and helping our first responders," says Matthew Sahr, the president of the Michigan Professional Firefighters Union.
Sahr said the funding is being distributed to 187 fire departments across Michigan. The funding also allows responders to change after battling a fire as opposed to waiting until the end of a shift to clean their gear or even having to respond to consecutive calls with unclean gear.
"Personal protective equipment, for us, it's our clothing so that includes our coats, pants, and our boots and those are the ones you commonly see firefighters using on a house fire and building fire," Sahr said, describing the turnout gear that the funding will go toward. "There are some fire departments across the state that don't have a second set and this is going to allow them to have that."
One department left off the list is the Detroit Fire Department, which did not submit an application. Executive Fire Commissioner Chuck Simms issued the following statement:
"The city has landed several hundred millions of dollars in state and federal grants in the last three years by prioritizing our most critical needs. The Detroit Fire Department already provides every member with two sets of turnout gear to make sure they are properly equipped, however, we are evaluating whether this grant application should've been given higher priority."