Canosia Township
National Association
of Towns and Townships Meeting
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The Assistance to Firefighters program, (also referred to as the FIRE Act) operated by the U.S. Fire Administration within the Federal Emergency Management Agency, awards one-year grants directly to fire departments to enhance their ability to respond to fire and fire-related hazards. This efficient program seeks to identify departments that lack the basic tools and resources necessary to protect the health and safety of the public and their firefighting personnel, and awards departments that present the greatest cost/benefit approach in meeting these needs.
 

The grants are intended to help with general improvements and achieve a minimum level of preparedness, not specifically terrorism preparedness. FEMA’s “all-hazards management” focus intends to help local and state governments take a comprehensive, risk-based approach to emergency management, preparing for both natural and man-made disasters.
 

     Applicants are able to apply for one grant that addresses their needs within four programmatic or functional areas. These areas are:
 

Fire Operations and Firefighter Safety Program: training, wellness and fitness, firefighting equipment, and personal protective equipment.
 Fire Prevention Program: public education and awareness, enforcing fire codes, inspector certification, purchase and installation of smoke alarms, and arson prevention and detection.
 Emergency Medical Services Program: equipment and training. (Vehicles are not eligible.)
 Firefighting Vehicle Program: eligible apparatus include, but are not limited to, pampers, brush trucks, tankers, rescue, ambulances, quints, aerials, foam units, and boats.
 

FEMA received 19.500 applications for its FY02 $360 million Assistance to Firefighters program, about 1,000 more than last year. Over $2.2 billion worth of requests for basic needs were made.
 

The law requires a specific distribution of grant funds between career departments and combination/volunteer fire departments according to the population served by each. Volunteer and combination departments protect 55 percent of the population of the United States (they submitted 17,786 applications to this year’s program, totaling $1.9 billion) and career departments protect 45 percent of the population (they submitted 1,733 applications, totaling more than $287 million).
 

     In contrast, the president’s proposed First Responder Initiative (FRI) proposes to collapse the Assistance to Firefighters grail program into the overall FRI, an idea opposed by local government groups and by firefighting and law enforcement agencies who would rather keep the program separate.

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