The city of Lansing is getting a federal grant that will allow the city to rehire firefighters laid off last year.
The $2.3 million grant will allow the city to rehire eight firefighters laid off last summer, as Lansing dealt with a large budget gap.
The Staffing for Adequate Fire and Emergency Response grant, or SAFER for short, will support the cost of rehiring the firefighters for the next two years.
Faced with a huge budget gap, Lansing leaders approved a budget that laid off 36 police officers and 11 firefighters in 2011.
Since then, the city has rehired three firefighters to replace others who left the department.
Lansing also rehired 28 police officers through a combination of federal grant, attrition and new dedicated funding.
The police and fire department layoffs spurred Lansing voters to approve a special public safety property tax last November.
