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Release Date: October 6, 2006
In Fiscal Year 2006, DHS Assistance to Firefighters Grant Program will award approximately $485 million directly to fire departments and EMS organizations to enhance their response capabilities and to more effectively protect the health and safety of the public and emergency response personnel with respect to fire and all other hazards.
Enhancing First Responders’ Capabilities
The Department of Homeland Security’s (DHS) Assistance to Firefighters Grants program is an important component of the Administration’s larger, coordinated effort to strengthen the Nation’s overall level of preparedness and ability to respond to fire and fire related hazards. This program has been providing funding to fire departments and other first responders since 2001. To date, a total of $2.4 billion in grants through the AFG program have been awarded to first-responder organizations to purchase response equipment, personal protective equipment, and vehicles.
Purpose
The purpose of the AFG program is to award grants directly to fire departments and nonaffiliated emergency medical service (EMS) organizations. These awards aim to enhance our first responder’s ability to protect the health and safety of the public, as well as that of first-responder personnel, with respect to fire-related hazards. Using a competitive process overseen by fire service subject matter experts, DHS awards grants to applicants whose requests best address the priorities of the AFG program.
Funding
The AFG program provides approximately $485 million for competitive grants to fire departments and nonaffiliated EMS organizations.
Eligibility
Eligible applicants for the AFG program are limited to fire departments and nonaffiliated EMS organizations operating in any of the 50 states plus the District of Columbia, the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands, the Virgin Islands, Guam, American Samoa, and Puerto Rico.
A “fire department” is defined as an agency or organization that has a formally recognized arrangement with a state, territory, local or tribal authority (city, county, parish, fire district, township, town, or other governing body) to provide fire suppression to a population within a fixed geographical area on a first-due basis.
Eligible applicants for Fire Prevention and Safety Grants include fire departments as well as national, regional, state, local or community organizations that are recognized for their experience and expertise in fire prevention or safety programs and activities. Finally, private and public nonprofit organizations, academic institutions, non-federal governmental organizations, non-governmental organizations, and individual researchers (i.e. doctorial candidates) are eligible to apply for funding for research and development activities.
Program Highlights
The various activities that the Assistance to Firefighters Grants can fund are detailed below according to the type of eligible entity:
Funding for vehicles (fire or EMS) is limited to 25 percent of the appropriation.
No less than three and one-half percent of the appropriation must be spent on EMS training, equipment, and vehicles. However, awards to nonaffiliated EMS organizations are limited to two percent of the appropriation.
The law imposes additional requirements on the balance of grant funds between career departments and combination/volunteer fire departments. Specifically, DHS must ensure that fire departments that have either all-volunteer firefighting personnel or combined forces of volunteer and career firefighting personnel receive a portion of the total grant funding that is not less than the proportion of the United States population that those departments protect. (There is no corresponding minimum for career departments.)
No less than five percent of the appropriation must be awarded for fire prevention and safety or research and development activities. Therefore, approximately $27 million in additional funds will be available through the Fire Prevention and Safety Grants (FP&S) to national, state, local or community organizations or agencies, including fire departments, for the purpose of carrying out fire prevention and injury prevention programs.
Program Coordination
The following entities were involved in developing the FY 2006 AFG guidance:
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This page was last modified on October 6, 2006