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Council accepts FEMA SAFER grant to fund 12 temporary firefighter positions; budget bill advances

Hawaii County Council · March 18, 2026
AI-Generated Content: All content on this page was generated by AI to highlight key points from the meeting. For complete details and context, we recommend watching the full video. so we can fix them.

Summary

Hawaii County accepted a $2,678,274.60 FEMA SAFER grant to fund 12 temporary firefighter positions and approved a companion budget bill on first reading to appropriate related grant revenue. Councilmembers urged planning for permanence after the grant period.

The Hawaii County Council voted March 18 to accept a Staffing for Adequate Fire and Emergency Response (SAFER) grant from the Federal Emergency Management Agency totaling $2,678,274.60 to fund 12 firefighter positions.

Councilmember Kerkowitz thanked staff and the fire department for securing the federal resources and noted the grant’s benefit: “They…

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