JACKSONVILLE, Fla. — The Acting Secretary of Homeland Security, Chad Wolf, spent Tuesday in Jacksonville touring JaxPort and then visiting a Jacksonville fire station.
At Fire Station #1, he was joined by Congressman John Rutherford, Jacksonville Mayor Lenny Curry and Fire Chief Keith Powers where Wolf announced additional support for fire departments across the country through the Staffing for Adequate Fire and Emergency Response (SAFER) Grant.
"What we are trying to do is here is provide flexibility for firefighters in departments all across the country giving them the ability to hire additional staff in the middle of the pandemic," Wolf said. "What we know is as city revenue is down it's going to impact some of their first responder services that they provide, so we've eliminated 25% cost-share match, so the federal government will be picking up 100% of these firefighter salaries over the next three years, and we've provided some additional flexibility in FY 20 as well."
Powers said Jacksonville Fire Rescue last received $5.5 million in SAFER grant money in 2018 allowing the department to hire 40 additional firefighters. JFRD applied for another grant today.
"It truly helps fire departments across the country during the COVID-19 pandemic," Chief Powers said.
After the press conference, First Coast News asked Acting Secretary Wolf about a number of topics including the border wall which he said is still being built during the pandemic.
"We have over 185 new miles of border wall system in place. We're on track to meet 450 by the end of this calendar year," Wolf said. "We're talking about cameras, roads, lighting, fiber optic cables. It's the whole package that provides a capability that border patrol hasn't had. It allows them to use some of their resources in a more effective manner. It allows them to put some of their agents at very difficult places to patrol while letting border wall system free up those resources and really apprehend those individuals coming across in easier locations."
He said border security is absolutely vital right now.
"This time last year we had over 30,000 folks in our facilities, and in an environment with COVID putting those individuals in the facilities that are close-knit is a recipe for disaster, so we are returning these individuals back to Mexico, back to the Northern Triangle. 80 percent of them within 120 minutes 2 hours," he said. "It's protecting our workforce. It is protecting the American people. It's also protecting the health care on the U.S. side making sure that that's not overrun as well."