Sen. Bernie Sanders Introduces FF Recruitment Bill

Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-VT, introduced a bill to increase funding to $12 billion over the next five years in an effort to support firefighter recruitment and retention programs.

Sanders introduced the Firefighter Staffing and Support Act after meeting with federal and state officials in Vermont recently, according to The Eagle Times.

“Career and volunteer fire departments in Vermont and across America are facing unprecedented challenges,” Sanders stated in a release. “The difficulty in recruiting and retaining personnel is an absolute crisis that has left fire departments and the communities they protect dangerously short-staffed.”

He added that fire departments have seen call volumes rise while budgets have not kept up with the demand for service.

Sanders’s legislation would funnel $12 billion into the existing Staffing for Adequate Fire and Emergency Response (SAFER) and the Assistance to Firefighters Grant (AFG) programs. The grants also provides for assistance to departments looking to acquire funding.

Highlights of the bill include, creating a report regarding challenges rural department face and developing a plan to address them, simplifying the grant application process and providing protection for volunteers who get backlash from employers if they are deployed to a federal incident.