Middletown Awarded $1.1M FEMA Grant to Hire 8 New Firefighters

Middletown’s Main Street firehouse was awash with state and local dignitaries Saturday for the announcement of a $1.1 million grant from the Federal Emergency Management Agency to hire, train and pay eight new firefighters for the next two years.

Mayor Dan Drew was flanked by state Sens. Richard Blumenthal and Christopher Murphy and Rep. Rosa DeLauro, firefighters and members of the common council for to explain why Middletown was chosen for this large Staffing for Adequate Fire and Emergency Response award.

“It is because of the caliber and the quality of the leadership that you have and the firefighters that you have that this $1.1 million grant was awarded,” DeLauro said to the 30 or so gathered in the fire truck bay. “You should take personal pride in the city of Middletown.”

The city will pay for the third and subsequent years of these eight firefighters' salaries. The federal government will pick up the tab for salary and benefits for these firefighters for two years. 

Murphy acknowledged that it is a constant battle to make certain SAFER funds remain intact for staff improvements such as these. 

“Our job is to fight to make sure that these accounts are around,” Murphy said. “There are those in Washington that think states and municipalities can carry the entire burden of providing enough funding.”

Such federal funds, Murphy said, are crucial to allow cities to provide top-notch first responders when they are needed most.

“What we know now after Dec. 14 is that any town can be the site of a national tragedy overnight. And it means that our police and our firefighters have to be ready anywhere and anywhere across this state and across this country.”

DeLauro agreed. "It’s not trite. You put your lives on the line every single day," she told the firefighters gathered.

In 2004, DeLauro said, she served on an Oregon public safety panel in which the wife of a firefighter spoke during a hearing. “I’ll never forget her testimony,” DeLauro recalled. “She said, ‘I never know whether or not my husband is coming back. Please, please make sure that he and his fellow firefighters have the personnel that they need the equipment that they need so that they can do their jobs.’”

In 2009, the city received a similar grant of $927,736 over four years to pay for four more firefighters. Then, Middletown picked up the fifth year of salaries.

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