Miami-Dade County gets fire grant

Miami-Dade Mayor Carlos Gimenez can thank the federal government for helping him achieve his promise to not close fire stations.

During the 2011 campaign, Gimenez promised not to lay off police officers or close any fire stations. He had already kept his promise about police officers, but the ability to keep the fire part of the pledge was aided significantly after a federal grant came through.

Finally, on Nov. 29, it did.

Here's what happened. During annual budget negotiations in the summer of 2013, Gimenez proposed cuts that would have closed an existing fire station and halted one under construction. At that point, we moved his promise to Stalled.

Then, by September, as the county was finalizing its the budget, Gimenez said if trucks were going to be cut, the county would avoid shutting down any stations that only had one truck so that all stations could be kept open. So we moved the promise back to In the Works.

But uncertainty remained while the county awaited word on the grant -- and the waiting game was delayed due to the federal government shutdown.

Finally, on Nov. 29, the county learned that it had received an $11.4 million two-year Staffing for Adequate Fire and Emergency Response, or SAFER, Grant from the Federal Emergency Management Agency. In all, the grant will prevent the layoff of 59 firefighters, the closure of two fire engine companies and an aerial platform company, and the reduction in staffing on a number of other units.

The grant doesn't provide money for new hires, but no fire stations will close.  "Everything will remain in service," said Rowan Taylor, president of the firefighters' union.

On Dec. 2, the county confirmed that it had received the grant. So we rate this Promise Kept.