Grants Likely For Worcester Families

Editor's Note: In addition to the state and federal benefits, more than $4 million has been donated the Telegram & Gazette's Firefighters Fund, including donations through Firehouse.Com, as of late last week. This, along with money from many other funds, will also go to the families.

MICHAEL J. SNIFFEN
Associated Press Writer

WASHINGTON (AP) -- The families of six Massachusetts firefighters who died in a Dec. 3 warehouse blaze could each receive lump sum federal payments of $146,000 by March, the Justice Department said Tuesday.

The Worcester Fire Department officers died after two went into the burning warehouse to look for homeless people they believed may have been trapped inside. The four others were members of a rescue party sent in to find their comrades.

All six families applied last month for one-time financial awards provided by the Justice Department's Public Safety Officers' Benefits program. The program is designed to help survivors and families of federal, state and local law enforcement officers, firefighters, emergency medical technicians, ambulance crew members and corrections officers who die or are permanently and totally disabled in the line of duty.

Bureau of Justice Assistance spokeswoman Sheila Jerusalem said the families applied Dec. 10, which began an information-gathering process that usually lasts 90 days. The department takes about two weeks to issue the checks after all information is gathered, so ``they could get the money at the end of March,'' Ms. Jerusalem said. ``We'll be working on it as fast as we can.''

In fiscal 1999, which ended last Sept. 30, more than 200 families received more than $29 million in death benefits under the program. The death benefit was $143,000 last year. Another $800,000 in disability benefits was paid last year to five public safety officers whose catastrophic personal injuries on duty left them unable to work.

All benefits under the program are exempt from taxes and not subject to attachment by creditors. Since the program began in 1977, more than 4,500 families have received death benefits.

``Public safety officers face innumerable risks on a daily basis to ensure the safety of our communities,'' said Nancy Gist, director of the Bureau of Justice Assistance. ``As in the Worcester tragedy, when an officer or firefighter loses his or her life or is permanently or totally disabled, the family should not have its grief intensified with fears regarding how the family will make ends meet.''

Last September, the department amended the regulations governing another benefit, the Federal Law Enforcement Dependents' Assistance program, to include the families of state and local public safety officers. This program provides money for the higher education of eligible survivors of officers killed or permanently disabled in the line of duty.

In fiscal 1999, this program paid more than $44,000 to eight families. Full-time students are eligible to receive $404 a month, and part-time students lesser amounts, to pay for tuition, room and board, books, supplies or fees.