Budget problems in Michigan have affected everything from higher education to the drive for an Internet sales tax.

Firefighters stand to receive the latest fiscal hit if the Legislature doesn’t restore a $7.4 million fire protection grant. Gov. John Engler vetoed a measure that would have given fire protection services $9.4 million, a $2 million increase over last year.

The grants are to pay for fire protection to government buildings, which do not provide local taxes. That makes state money vitally important for cities such as East Lansing to continue providing the coverage and service they have for state-operated buildings, including campus dorms, halls and stadiums.

Eliminating this aid would mean having to eliminate special training, laying off firefighters and limiting equipment.

The timing for this particular measure is ironic, considering the national view of firefighters as heroes in the aftermath of Sept. 11’s violent attacks. Not that this should be taken as mean-spirited, but this issue simply came up at a bad time.

It’s expected measures will be taken to restore funding at this past year’s level as soon as possible. But until this appropriation is passed, the safety of anyone at a public university, any state employee or anybody attending a public activity or event taking place on state property is in jeopardy.

Living in a college town, students should understand too well what this situation can mean. Dorm residents, attendees at football games or other sporting events and even students in class are protected by East Lansing Fire Department services on a daily basis, even if they don’t always see it.

If there’s no state appropriation, all this could drastically change.

Our firefighters should get the funding they need to continue to provide the community with the services they do. It’s unfortunate the state cannot find the extra $2 million in the budget which was originally proposed, but there needs to be some kind of money to enable them to continue doing their jobs.

After all, it’s their job to keep us safe while we do ours.