New Fire Service Grant Program Update
Release Date: January 26, 2001
Release Number: HQ-01-005
Emmitsburg, MD -- Work continued this week on the new $100 million federal grant program for our nation's fire service community. Representatives from major fire service organizations met with officials from the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) and its United States Fire Administration (USFA) Jan. 23 - 25 at the National Emergency Training Center to help develop the criteria for evaluating grant proposals.
"The participation of these organizations is critical to the success of this new program," said Ken Burris, acting USFA Administrator. "Their support and expertise will help us meet our goal to award all the grants before the end of September."
Several key actions have been taken to speed this process:
- In addition to the traditional paper form, an online application form is being developed. Fire departments will be able to log onto the FEMA/USFA web site, fill out the application and submit it electronically via the Internet.
- As previously announced, grants will be awarded in six specific categories. They are training, wellness/fitness programs, vehicles, firefighting equipment, personal protective equipment, and fire prevention programs.
- Each fire department will be allowed to apply for grants in a maximum of two different categories.
"We are also soliciting input on how we should to run the new grant program from rural, suburban and urban fire departments as well as volunteer, combination and career departments, " Burris said. "They are both our partners and customers in this effort and must be part of the development process if we are going to be successful."
A Federal Register notice announcing specific regulations governing the grant program will be published in the near future. Fire departments are encouraged to monitor the USFA web site for the latest grant program information at www.fema.gov. An e-mail list is also available for news updates. To sign up, Internet users can go to the USFA web site and click on the e-mail list link at the bottom of the page.
Last Modified: Friday, 17-Oct-2003 10:36:19