Fire Research Division

Fire Research Division

Extramural Fire Research Grants Program

The Fire Research Grants Program is open to institutions of higher education; hospitals; non-profit organizations; commercial organizations; state, local, and Indian tribal governments; foreign governments; organizations under the jurisdiction of foreign governments; and international organizations. Joint programs with participation by more than one eligible entity are possible.

All grant awards are made on a competitive basis. An annual notice that provides additional information on the availability of grant funds, applicant eligibility, program objectives, and selection criteria is issued in the Federal Register when funds are approved by Congress (normally by the end of the first quarter of each fiscal year). Proposals should be compatible with the following program goals and objectives:

A. Fire Modeling: The objectives are to develop understanding and predictive methods of dynamic fire phenomena to advance fire science and engineering practice, reduce fire hazards, and improve fire protection and fire fighting; performs research to enhance the understanding of the physics of fires to improve predictions of the growth, spread, suppression, and emissions from fires of all scales; and uses experiments, analysis, metrology, and advanced computer simulations to improve predictions of fire phenomena. The contact person for this group is Kevin McGrattan, and he may be reached at (301) 975-2712.

B. Fire Measurements: The objective is to apply measurement science in the development and quantification of new and existing measurement methods for studying fire growth, fire induced flows, flame radiation, smoke formation and dynamics, species production, heat transfer, fire suppression, and fire detection.  The work includes long-term, basic research to develop new measurement techniques as well as short-term challenges to address needs identified by other groups within the division and the fire research community at large; serves as the division resource for quantification of measurement uncertainty, development of calibration standards, and best practices documents; manages the NIST Large Scale Fire Facility where advanced field scale diagnostics, real-time data analysis, and quantified measurements are employed to validate models for fire growth, smoke dynamics, and suppression.  The contact person for this group is Jiann Yang, and he may be reached at (301) 975-6662.

C. Fire Fighting Technology: The objectives are to conduct research that enables advances in fire fighter safety, fire ground operations, and effectiveness of the fire service; and develops and applies technology, measurements and standards, and improves the understanding of the behavior, prevention and control of fires to enhance fire fighting operations and equipment, fire suppression, fire investigations, and disaster response.  The contact person for this group is Nelson Bryner, and he may be reached at (301) 975-6868.

D. Engineered Fire Safety: The objective is to produce quantitative tools useful to a broad base of stakeholders in the building and fire safety communities including:  architects and design engineers; manufacturers of building materials, products, and furnishings; code developers, enforcers, and regulating authorities; and stakeholders exposed to direct risk such as building owners, occupants, the general public and the fire service; and utilizes enhanced data and predictions to quantify fire events for fire hazard and risk assessment; for fire fighter operations, training, and fire investigations; and performance evaluation of fire protection systems in buildings, transportation systems, and vehicles in response to fire; works with customers to build fire safety decision models making use of advancements in metrology, simulation, and materials; and manages the flow of research data and information to the fire safety community. The contact person for this group is Jason Averill, and he can be reached at (301) 975-2585.

E. Materials Flammability: The objective is to perform research to understand fundamentally the mechanisms that control the ignition, flame spread, and burning rate of materials and the chemical and physical characteristics that affect these aspects of flammability; and develops methods of measuring and predicting the response of a material to a fire which includes characterizing the burning rates of charring and non-charring polymers and composites, delineating and modeling the enthalpy and mass transfer mechanisms of materials combustion, and developing computational molecular dynamics and other mechanistic approaches to understand the relationships between polymer structure and flammability. The contact person for this group is Jeff Gilman, and he can be reached at (301) 975-6573.

Prospective proposers are encouraged to contact the above researchers to determine the extent of interest prior to preparation of a detailed proposal.

Electronic filing is accepted through www.grants.gov.  Cover page should include a statement indicating that the technical proposal is for the Fire Research Grant Program.

Additional information is available from the BFRL Fire Grants Assistant, Wanda Duffin-Ricks, wanda.duffin-ricks@nist.gov.

A PDF file of the document "Extramural Fire Research Program - Announcement and Preparation Guide" (revised October 2007) is available detailing the BFRL Extramural Fire Research Program and a guide for preparing grant proposals. 

The necessary standard forms are  available through the Grants.gov website:
http://www.grants.gov/agencies/aapproved_standard_forms.jsp. 

The necessary CD forms are available from the DOC OCIO Forms Management Web Site. http://ocio.os.doc.gov/ITPolicyandPrograms/Electronic_Forms/SSDATA_FORMSMANAGEMENT_REGION7

(For assistance with obtaining forms contact the Fire Grants Program Assistant.)

Lists of awards made in the Fire Grants Program during previous fiscal years are available here as PDF files:


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Last updated: 12/5/2008