MYRTLE BEACH, SC (WBTW) – Firefighters around the country worry a program aimed at saving lives could be gone in two weeks if Congress doesn’t take action.

Legislation to reauthorize the Assistance to Firefighters Grants (AFG) and the Staffing for Adequate Fire and Emergency Response (SAFER) Grants has not been finalized, and the grant money, which supplies hundreds of millions of dollars to local departments every year, is set to run out on January 2, 2018.

AFG grants typically help departments with equipment and SAFER grants help with staffing. The federal government has been awarding the grant money since 2005.

“Right now we need to get this passed and keep this going,” said President of the Myrtle Beach Fire Officer’s Union, Seth Holzopel. “This is no additional money. This is money that’s been allocated in the past so it’s not going to cost our taxpayers any more money.”

From fiscal year 2014-2017, South Carolina departments received almost $36 million from these grants, including departments in Myrtle Beach, Loris, Florence, Hartsville and Murrells Inlet.

The Myrtle Beach Fire Department received a $1 million SAFER grant in 2016 which allowed them to hire nine new firefighters. The department also received a $220,000 AFG grant to purchase exhaust capture systems which help trap dangerous cancer-causing fumes from entering fire stations.

“It’s a great grant and we’re so proud to have received it,” said Chief Alvin Payne. “Everybody wins. The people on the street, the people in the firehouse. I don’t know that anyone loses when we’re able to add people.”

Holzopel said this money can go towards career and volunteer fire departments and is especially helpful for small departments that may have tight budgets.

“I feel that we shouldn’t have to beg and plead for public safety for our citizens,” he added. “I feel it’s our government’s number one job; whether it’s the federal, state or local level to take care of its citizens. This is one program that makes sure our citizens are taken care of when it comes to the fire and natural disaster side of things.”

The Senate passed S. 829 unanimously in August to re-instate the grants and the House passed H.R. 4661, its own version of the bill, by voice vote on Monday.

The chambers will have to pass a compromise bill and get it to the President before the grants are set to dissolve on January 2, 2018.