Senators Dodd and Leahy Announce SAFER Funding for South Burlington 

From left: Vermont Senator and former City Council Chair Jim Condos, Professional Fire Fighters of Vermont State President Matt Vinci, Senator Chris Dodd, South Burlington Fire Chief Doug Brent, Senator Patrick Leahy and South Burlington Local 3671 President Chris Corbin.

May 5, 2008 – U.S. Senator Chris Dodd (D-CT) and U.S. Senator Patrick Leahy (D-VT) visited with members of South Burlington, VT Local 3671 to announce that the fire department has received a $632,550 Staffing for Adequate Fire and Emergency Response (SAFER) grant. The funding will be used to hire six additional fire fighters and to provide more consistent advanced life support services.

Senator Dodd authored the 2003 legislation that created the SAFER grant program to help inadequately staffed fire departments safely respond to fires, emergency medical calls and – most recently – terrorism attacks. Senator Leahy was a cosponsor of Dodd’s bill. Then-Representative Bernie Sanders (I-VT) supported the legislation in the U.S. House of Representatives before becoming a senator, and Representative Peter Welch (D-VT) is also a strong supporter of the program.

“In my more than a quarter-century in the Senate, I’ve been fortunate to achieve some real legislative victories, but none of them was needed more urgently than the passage of the FIRE Act and SAFER,” said Dodd, co-chair of the Congressional Fire Caucus. “Here in South Burlington and in communities across the country, fire fighters are the people we depend on to keep us safe, and we in turn must ensure that we provide them with the tools, training and personnel they need to protect themselves in the line of duty.”

Leahy, a senior member of the Senate’s Homeland Security Appropriations Subcommittee, said, “Funding for these essential services is constantly under attack. This year, as we fund exactly these types of services in Iraq, the president has suggested that Congress eliminate the SAFER program. We do not plan to let that happen.”

The SAFER program has provided $160 million of support to 398 communities across the country. Dodd, Leahy and Sanders were among a group of senators who signed a letter last month supporting full funding of the SAFER program.

The SAFER grant program provides phased federal funding to municipalities over a five-year period to help pay for additional fire fighters. The municipalities gradually support the new positions over time. Voters in South Burlington will be asked to approve a plan to fund the new positions on May 20 as part of South Burlington’s regularly scheduled election.