Congressman Chris Smith joined firefighters at the Trenton Firemen’s Benevolent Association Local 206 and Local 6 at their Annual Firemen's Night Out & Valor Award at the Nottingham Fire Company's ballroom in Hamilton Township, NJ.

    Two city firefighters, Privates Anthony Moran and Kevin Rice, were given valor awards for a daring water rescue of a man in June 2010. Another firefighter, Mike Szenak was given a award in appreciation of his volunteer work for local functions. Fourteen retiring firefighters were honored for their careers. Smith was presented with a firefighter's helmet and an appreciation award for his roll in helping save more than 60 firefighters facing pending lay-offs through a federal grant awarded to Trenton in January. Also receiving awards for their assistance in writing the grant were Trenton Police Detective Alexis Durlacher and Lisa Willever.

    “I was happy to be a member of the team that worked together to receive this grant,” said Smith, a long-time member of the Congressional Fire Services Caucus. “I was pleased to work with firefighters and staff who had applied for this grant, especially Fire Chief John Gribbin, who was the quarterback of the team. Every winning team needs a quarterback and John was the lead of this team effort.”

    Gribbin, a battalion chief for the city, retires this year after 25 years of service. He was honored for his instrumental leadership to pursuue the grant that averted layoffs. Smith presented him with an American flag flown over the U.S. Capitol in Washington in honor of his career as a firefighter and his work on the grant. Council President George Muschal also attended and spoke to the assembled firefighters and their families.

    The funding, $13,685,436, comes through the U.S. Department of Homeland Security’s Assistance to Firefighters Grants (AFG) Staffing for Adequate Fire and Emergency Response (SAFER). It is administered by the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) in cooperation with the U.S. Fire Administration. 

    After meeting with Special Operations Chief Gribbin and other city firefighters in September 2010, Smith sent a letter to FEMA citing Trenton's budgetary woes and public safety issues. In December, Smith helped obtain a waiver for the City after it inadvertently became ineligible for the grant when it postponed planned layoffs. Working with Assistant Administrator of FEMA Elizabeth Harmon and other FEMA officials, Smith explained that the loss of an expected 61 firefighters would be detrimental to fire service in the densely populated city that is the capital of the Garden State.

    SAFER grants provide assistance to fire departments to increase the number of frontline firefighters.  The goal is for fire departments to increase their staffing and deployment capabilities and help provide communities with adequate protection from fire and fire-related hazards.  The SAFER program supports several critical activities, such as the rehiring of laid off firefighters, the retention of firefighters facing layoffs, the hiring of new firefighters, and recruitment and retention of volunteer firefighters.  Grants are used to pay the salaries and benefits of firefighters hired with grant funds over the two-year award performance period.