Over a thousand agencies awarded
On Sept. 22, 2026, FEMA announced 1,404 Fire and EMS grants under the FY 2025 Assistance to Firefighters Grant Program (AFG). A total of $265,816,335 in fire grants and EMS grants will now be on its way to public safety agencies from coast to coast.
Here’s a breakdown of the numbers:
- 1,404 total grants
- 288 awards under $50,000 (including 20 under $10,000)
- 49 awards from $750,000–$1,000,000 (including 5 for $1 million)
- 116 Vehicle Acquisition AFG grants
- 1,288 Operations and Safety AFG grants
This includes awards for various First Responder Grants clients and students. For example, Waterford Regional Fire Department in Michigan has received their award notification for a vehicle exhaust removal system.
“Emails are going out to departments with the award package for the highly anticipated 2025 AFG awards,” says Greg Bavis. “Good luck to all departments that have applied for the grant!”
What are AFG grants going to fund?
The AFG fire grants will fund a variety of needs, including but not limited too:
- SCBA
- Regional grants for SCBA and SCBA compressor and PPE
- Brush trucks
- Ladder trucks
- Engines
- Tanker/tenders
- Ambulances
- Hose
- Nozzles
- Appliances
- Training for EMT-A
- Paramedic with associated coverage and overtime
- Structural PPE
- Wildland PPE
- Thermal imagers
- Direct source vehicle exhaust capture systems
- Extractors and dryers
- Portable radios
- Hand tools
- Nonaffiliated EMS for cardiac monitors, CPR devices and other equipment
This announcement is expected to be the entirely of the awards for FY 2025, but we will update you with any further FY 2025 AFG award announcements.
“A huge shoutout to all the people behind the scenes at AFG who are working extremely hard to get many months’ worth of work done in a short amount of time to get the awards out to departments,” adds Greg. “The work you do is very much appreciated by departments nationwide.
If your agency received an AFG grant, here’s what to do next
Winning your grant is just the beginning, not the end, of your AFG fire grant journey.
Grants such as AFG require consistent administration and on-time reporting too. Failure to manage a grant properly can even result in losing the grant you worked so hard to win.
Wondering how you can manage your AFG award, on top of everything else you have to do?
Our Grant Administration and Management service can take the load, and give you the peace of mind that your administrative requirements get met on time.
Learn more about your options at no cost and with no obligation:
No grant notice? Here’s the bad news… and what to do next
If your agency applied for AFG but you have not received an award announcement from FEMA, the bad news is that your grant is not getting funded this year.
However, that’s why there’s next year.
When it comes to grants, no one bats a hundred percent. But as the saying goes, you miss one hundred percent of the shots you don’t take.
If your grant didn’t pan out for the FY 2025 program, here’s what to do next:
- Review your application and narrative for weak points
- Watch for details, program priorities, and guidelines for the FY 2026 program (we’ll advise as soon as it’s available)
- Get grant training to help you write a stronger grant next time around
- Bring on board one of our experienced public safety grant writers
- Combine your AFG grant with application support for smaller grants, with our annual grant service package
However things went for your AFG application this year, the most important thing is that you applied. The next most important thing is that you can try again next year.
Congratulations to every AFG winner!
And for every eligible Fire Service and EMS agency, let’s get ready for next year’s program!