Boston Fire Department tells council state and federal grant cuts have reduced training and wellness resources

At a Boston City Council Committee on Public Safety and Criminal Justice hearing on April 25, 2025, Boston Fire Department officials told councilors that reductions in state earmarks and uncertainty over federal grant awards have reduced funding for the department’s training academy, HAZMAT response and health-and-wellness programs and that two grants remain pending council approval.

The council hearing, led by Councilor Henry Santana, chair of the committee, was convened to give the council an overview of “all City of Boston grants administered by the fire department,” including competitive federal awards and state-allocated funds. “The purpose of today’s hearing … is to allow the city council to be well informed when BFD grants come, before this body, for review and approval,” Santana said.

Julie Devon, Boston Fire Department financial grants manager, told the committee the department currently administers 13 active awards — “8 are federal and 5 are state funded and they total more than $3,000,000.” Devon said the department is administering two Assistant to Firefighter (AFG) programs, two Fire Prevention and Safety grants, a port security grant (about $86,000 in federal funds for shipboard training) and a $260,000 award from the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission for carbon monoxide detectors and outreach to vulnerable populations.

Devon said the three-year SAFER (Staffing for Adequate Fire and Emergency Response) grant period ended Feb. 24, 2025. “We’ve submitted and received payment request amounts totaling over $10,000,000 of the $24,000,000 awarded to the department to fund the hiring of 85 firefighters,” she said.

The department reported sharp reductions in recurring state earmarks that historically supported the Training Academy and the HAZMAT team. Devon said the annual training academy allotment has varied…