Biden visits Philadelphia to announce funding for city’s firefighters
President Biden visited Philadelphia on Monday to tout the benefits of a new grant that will allow the city to reopen three decommissioned fire companies and fund the salary and benefits of 72 firefighters.
Biden announced the city would receive a $22.4 million Staffing for Adequate Fire and Emergency Response (SAFER) Grant award.
The money will fund the salary and benefits of 72 firefighters for three years, the White House said, and will provide money for a new class of trainees to enter the city’s fire academy.
“The only thing that protects firefighters is more firefighters. Good equipment, obviously, but more firefighters,” Biden said in remarks at the city’s Engine 13 Firehouse.
It will also allow the Philadelphia Fire Department to reopen Engine 6, Ladder 1 and Ladder 11, which were decommissioned because of the Great Recession.
“You’ve all heard me say before, God made men and he also made a few firefighters. The overwhelming human instinct is to run away from danger. I think the most frightening thing anyone can do is run into a fire,” Biden said.
“When the bell rings, you all just run toward it. You put your gear on, you jump in the truck and you do what you got to do, because being a firefighter isn’t just what you do, it’s who you are,” he added.
Biden was joined Monday by Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro (D), outgoing Philadelphia Mayor Jim Kenney (D), Edward Kelly, general president of the International Association of Fire Fighters, and Philadelphia Fire Commissioner Adam Thiel, among others.
The president has a lengthy history of advocating for more resources for firefighters, and the International Association of Fire Fighters was the first major labor group to endorse him during the 2020 campaign.
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