The City of Hackensack, New Jersey, has turned down a $2.4M grant from the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) that would enable them to hire 12 additional firefighters, according to a report.
Rep. Josh Gottheimer and Bergen County Executive Jim Tedesco spoke to reporters urging city officials to accept the grant. According to the city, the FEMA grant would only pay the new firefighters’ salaries for the first three years, after which the cost would on taxpayers.
The city is seeing considerable development in recent years. A source who spoke with Fire Engineering said that a city-funded study of the city’s public safety agencies by the Rodgers Group asserted that, given the current levels of staffing, the fire department would be unable to successfully mount a response to a high-rise fire without mutual aid units.
