Assistance to Firefighters Grant Program

The FY 2019 Assistance to Firefighters Grant (AFG) program opened in early February, and applications are due March 13. Click here for more information. 

The program goal is to enhance the safety of the public and firefighters with respect to fire and fire-related hazards. Applicants may request funding for operations and safety projects, vehicle acquisition, and regional projects, which should benefit more than one local jurisdiction. Eligible applicants are fire departments, non-affiliated emergency medical service  organizations, and state fire training academies. 

There are several changes from previous AFG programs that are outlined below.  

Under Micro Grants: 
•    Wellness and Fitness is now eligible as a micro and regional grant
•    Modifications to Facilities activities are now eligible as a micro grant

Under Equipment category: 
•    Training ‘props’ are limited to $50,000 except for a State Fire Training Academy request
•    Learning Management Systems (LMS) to include software and computer programs for local departments and states to track training and certifications were added as high priority

Under Operation and Safety and Regional category:
•    Immediately Dangerous to Life or Health (IDLH), Protection for Fire Investigators (single-use respiratory protection) is added as high priority. 
•    Definition of Primary First Due Response Area is updated to be consistent with NFPA 1710 Current Edition. The geographic area surrounding a fire station in which a company from that station is projected to be the first to arrive on the scene of an incident.
•    Application will include data/statistics on fire departments implementation of National Fire Protection Association (NFPA) 1582 physicals. This information is not included in the peer review determination. 

Under Vehicle Acquisition: 
•    Brush vehicles are now a high priority for urban, suburban and rural communities. The only exception is for urban communities, a brush truck may not exceed Type III in specifications. This does not preclude a department from applying for a Type I urban interface pumper. Type I pumpers should be requested as a pumper and specified in the request as Type I.

For this round of funding, approximately $315 million is available to support 2,500 awards. Maximum award and required match contributions vary based on the departments jurisdiction size. Generally, applicants serving larger population sizes can request a larger maximum award size (up to $3.5 million) but must provide a larger match share. 

This is a very competitive program. If your departments are interested, they are encouraged to begin the application as soon as possible.