$319,500,000 in fire grants for equipment and training
Grant Guidelines: Notice of Funding Opportunity (NOFO)
Funding Opportunity Number: DHS-20-GPD-044-00-98
Assistance Listings (formerly Catalog of Federal Domestic Assistance Number): 97.044
Application Period Opens: Monday, January 4, 2021, 8:00 a.m. ET
Application Deadline: Friday, February 12, 2021, at 5:00 p.m. ET
Enhance public safety and firefighter safety with respect to fire and fire-related hazards
The Fiscal Year (FY) 2020 Assistance to Firefighters Grant (AFG) Program is one of 3 fire grant programs from the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) and the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA). AFG focuses on enhancing the safety of the public and firefighters with respect to fire and fire-related hazards.
The FY 2020 AFG Program has 3 activities:
- Operations and Safety
- Vehicle Acquisition
- Regional Projects
Each activity has its own eligibility requirements. These requirements are outlined in the NOFO: Appendix B: Programmatic Information and Priorities.
The objectives of the AFG Program are to:
- Provide critically needed resources that equip and train emergency personnel to recognized standards
- Enhance operational efficiencies
- Foster interoperability, and
- Support community resilience
What this grant does for your agency
AFG enhances public safety and firefighter safety by providing financial assistance for critical training and equipment directly to eligible:
- Fire departments
- Nonaffiliated emergency medical service (EMS) organizations, and
- State Fire Training Academies (SFTAs)
The AFG Program represents one part of a comprehensive set of measures authorized by Congress and implemented by DHS. Among the 5 basic homeland security missions noted in the DHS Quadrennial Homeland Security Review, the AFG Program supports the goal to Strengthen National Preparedness and Resilience. In awarding grants, the FEMA Administrator is required to consider the following:
- The findings and recommendations of the Technical Evaluation Panel (TEP);
- The degree to which an award will reduce deaths, injuries, and property damage by reducing the risks associated with fire related and other hazards;
- The extent of an applicant’s need for an AFG Program grant and the need to protect the United States as a whole; and
- The number of calls requesting or requiring a firefighting or emergency medical response received by an applicant.
Agencies awarded the FY 2020 Assistance to Firefighters Grant (AFG) receive direct grants to aid with procuring equipment and training,
Estimated Total Program Funding: $$319,500,000
Projected Number of Awards: 2,000
Only a limited number of grants will be awarded.
Grant Eligibility
For full eligibility details, see the Grant Guidelines:
Fire Departments
Fire departments operating in any of the 50 states, as well as fire departments in the District of Columbia, the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands, the U.S. Virgin Islands, Guam, American Samoa, the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, or any federally recognized Indian tribe or tribal organization. A fire department is an agency or organization having a formally recognized arrangement with a state, local, tribal, or territorial authority (city, county, parish, fire district, township, town, or other governing body) to provide fire suppression to a population within a geographically fixed primary first due response area.
Nonaffiliated EMS organizations
Nonaffiliated EMS organizations operating in any of the 50 states, as well as the District of Columbia, the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands, the U.S. Virgin Islands, Guam, American Samoa, the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico,2 or any federally recognized Indian tribe or tribal organization. A nonaffiliated EMS organization is an agency or organization that is a public or private nonprofit emergency medical service entity providing medical transport that is not affiliated with a hospital and does not serve a geographic area in which emergency medical services are adequately provided by a fire department. FEMA considers the following as hospitals under the AFG Program: Clinics, Medical centers, Medical college or university, Infirmary, Surgery centers, and/or any other institution, association, or foundation providing medical, surgical, or psychiatric care and/or treatment for the sick or injured.
State Fire Training Academies
A SFTA operates in any of the 50 states, as well as the District of Columbia, the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands, the U.S. Virgin Islands, Guam, American Samoa, and the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico. Applicants must be designated either by legislation or by a Governor’s declaration as the sole fire service training agency within a state, territory, or the District of Columbia. The designated SFTA shall be the only agency, bureau, division, or entity within that state, territory, or the District of Columbia, to be an eligible SFTA applicant under the AFG Program.
About the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA)
FEMA’s mission is to help people before, during and after disasters More
Grant Deadline
Grant applications are due no later than 5 p.m. EST, Fri., Feb. 12, 2021.
Apply
Apply for the FY 2020 Assistance to Firefighters Grant (AFG)