BANGOR, Maine (AP) _ A Maine fire department plans to hire four new firefighters with help from grant funding.

WABI-TV reports the Bangor Fire Department recently announced it had received the SAFER grant. The department will receive $150,000 in the first year of the three-year grant.

Bangor City Council voted Monday to approve funding for the portion not covered by the grant. The city will be required to pay 25 percent of the firefighters’ salaries and benefits in the first two years. The funding requirement increases to 65 percent in the third year.

Bangor Fire Chief Tom Higgins says the department has received the grant two other times. Higgins says the grant will allow the department “to bring staffing back up to 88.”

Officials have started the hiring process.