By Chris Van Buskirk
Boston Herald
BOSTON — Municipalities in Massachusetts must comply with a controversial transit-oriented housing law in order to receive state grant money for firefighter safety equipment, a change fire chiefs said they found out about late Wednesday afternoon.
Tying state grant dollars to compliance with the housing law comes after thousands of acres were burned by local brush and wildfires last fall and as the ability for firefighters to successfully beat back blazes dominates national conversations because of deadly wildfires in California.
Fire chiefs who spoke to the Herald Thursday said the Healey administration changed the requirements for the fiscal year 2025 firefighter safety equipment grant program Wednesday.
In an email sent to fire chiefs Wednesday, State Fire Marshal Jon Davine notified officials of “an additional required change to eligibility requirements” for the fiscal year 2025 firefighter safety equipment grant program, according to a copy of the message obtained by the Herald.
Davine did not specifically say what had changed but attached a document to his email that detailed the grant program and included a single highlighted section that said “receipt of grant funds is contingent upon the grantee being able to certify that it will comply with the … MBTA Communities Act.”
The fire marshal said the document, titled “Notice of Funding Opportunity,” was initially issued on Sept. 19 and previously amended on Nov. 12, according to the email.
“Please be advised that we are working diligently with our oversight agencies to finalize this year’s awards, make the appropriate notifications, and distribute the associated contracts. We will update you as soon as more information becomes available,” Davine said in the email.
The change was made well after the application period for the grant program closed on Oct. 17. State officials were expected to announce awards the week of Nov. 18, according to the document included in Davine’s email
Wrentham Fire Chief Antonio Marino said fire departments across Massachusetts have no role in deciding whether or not their municipality decides to comply with the MBTA Communities Act, a law that requires some cities and towns to zone at least one district near a transit hub for multi-family housing.
“This grant was designed specifically to take the politics out of fire departments having to beg for money to buy the essential equipment to make it safer for their departments. That’s what this was for and now they’re politicizing our safety,” Marino told the Herald. “It’s kind of a bullying tactic and puts us in the middle of it.”
A spokesperson for the State Fire Marshal referred questions to Gov. Maura Healey’s office.
A spokesperson for Healey said she is “committed to supporting local fire departments and working with communities to come into compliance with the MBTA Communities Law, which is an essential component of our efforts to make housing more affordable.”
“We are reviewing the status of these grants in light of the recent Supreme Judicial Court ruling,” a Healey spokesperson said, referring to a court ruling from earlier this month that upheld the zoning law but shot down regulations laying out its implementation.
But fire chiefs across Massachusetts are peeved about the change.
Duxbury Fire Chief Robert Reardon said he learned about the requirement to comply with the housing law from Davine’s email and was “disappointed” that grant dollars for fire safety equipment would be tied to cities and towns’ compliance with the MBTA Communities Act.
Duxbury voted this fall to reject an effort to comply with the housing law, which requires cities and towns to zone at least one district near a transit hub for multi-family housing. But Reardon said his department has not yet been denied grant money.
In an interview with the Herald, he said the Duxbury Fire Department relies on federal, state, and local grants to provide critical equipment to firefighters, including rapid intervention air packs that help firefighters who are trapped or injured in burning buildings.
“In no way am I trying to politically smear anybody,” he said. “I’m just trying to come up with a resolution where we can equip our firefighters with needed equipment.”
Marino, the fire chief in Wrentham, said his department applied for $19,000 from the firefighter safety equipment grant program to fund wildfire equipment, including jackets and coats that are free of PFAS and carcinogens as required by a state law Healey signed last year.
He said the grant dollars are usually a “rubber stamp” and used for high-priority items.
“We already have a retention and entry-level problem for people in this trade, and this is just one more reason why people will have an excuse that they’re not going to be looked after, and it’s unfortunate,” Marino said. “That’s the reality. It should be off limits.”
In the wake of the Supreme Judicial Court ruling, Healey’s office issued emergency regulations that gave municipalities until Feb. 13 to submit a plan to come into compliance with the law.
In a follow-up email sent to fire chiefs Thursday, Davine said no grants had been denied in connection to compliance with the MBTA Communities Act.
“State regulations required DFS to notify eligible fire departments of amendments to the Notice of Funding Opportunity in the same manner in which it was originally announced,” Davine wrote. “We are in close contact with the Executive Office of Public Safety & Security and the Governor’s office on this matter and are working diligently to review and finalize this year’s awards.”
Senate Minority Leader Bruce Tarr , a Gloucester Republican, said fire departments in his district were “alarmed” by the original notice, especially because it was sent late in the grant process.
Tarr said coupling the grants with a requirement to comply with the housing law was “not an appropriate way to try to affect compliance.”
“No firefighters’ lives should be put at risk because their community hasn’t adopted the housing policy that the state wants,” he told the Herald.
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