I'm not sure if anyone actually posted about the $$22.5 million grant the city is receiving regarding the FD: so here is the Free Press article about it:

Detroit Fire Department gets $22.5-million grant to preserve jobs

July 7, 2012

Nearly two weeks after Detroit announced it would lay off 164 firefighters because of budget issues, Fire Department officials received a $22.5-million federal grant check on Friday that will restore 108 firefighters.

U.S. Rep. Hansen Clarke, a Detroit Democrat, presented the check from the Department of Homeland Security's Staffing for Adequate Fire and Emergency Response [[SAFER) program to Detroit Fire Commissioner Donald Austin.

Clarke also announced he was working directly with the Federal Emergency Management Agency to expedite the payment of the grant to avoid layoffs, which were expected to take place by the end of the month.

Austin said he still has to formally accept the grant.
"This is probably the best news I've had since I've been here," Austin said after receiving the check. "This is going to be the beginning of a lot of change that will help the city and the residents and certainly the members of my department."

The grant will cover the salaries and benefits for the firefighters over two years. Austin said the department is also applying for another SAFER grant that has a filing deadline of July 16 and the Assistance to Firefighters grant that was filed Friday.

"Our goal is to get them an additional award that could be released as early as September so that the remainder of those firefighters that are slated for layoffs can be able to stay on the job," Clarke said.

The administration, Austin said, was in the process of identifying who would be laid off.

"There are 56 that will have to be laid off," Austin said. "But that number is shrinking every day because we have people that are actually separating."

The grant, Austin said, makes up a little more than 5% of the department's budget.

Read Full article >>http://www.freep.com/article/20120707/NEWS01/207070367/Detroit-Fire-Department-gets-36-22-5-million-grant-to-preserve-jobs?odyssey=tab|topnews|text|FRONTPAGE

Contact Melanie Scott Dorsey: 313-222-6159 ormdscott@freepress.com