Fire Chief

Station Grant Update

Janet Wilmoth August 19th, 2009

If you jumped at the opportunity to apply for one of the Department of Homeland Security’s Assistance to Firefighters Fire Station Construction Grants,you were not alone in your excitement.

Earlier this year, Congress appropriated $210 million for this fiscal year 2009 program as part of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA). The SCG was designed to provide financial assistance directly to fire departments on a competitive basis to build new or modify existing fire stations and be better prepared to respond and protect the communities served.

According to Brian Cowan, director of the FIRE Grants program, 6,025 applications for SCG funding were received for a total of $9.9 billion. Billion! While the number of applications were about what I would have guessed, the dollar amount was staggering. I asked Cowan if he thought the response was successful.

“What constitutes success? I think it is characteristic of the application period,” Cowan said. “As long as we receive enough applications we’re happy and we obviously reached that goal. The real success is if we can have effective grant awards and the presumption that with 100 or so [grants] we will be.”

Cowan added that technically the funds are available until Sept.30, 2010, but of course, the program was designed to stimulate the economy now and the AFG is moving as quickly as possible to disperse funding. The initial reviews were completed last month.

“There’s a lot of interest and we’re trying to get through with the financial review process on the business side.” Cowan added that no final decisions have be made on any of the applications at this time.

It is going to be interesting to see how the final numbers on the SCG break out. Will small, rural departments seeking less than six figures be well-represented in disbursement versus larger departments seeking $5 million? When there are so many departments in need, how do you effectively spread $210 million to help fire departments? How much does community risk weigh in the SCG’s decision? Is there any possibility there will be a second appropriation of funds for Station Construction Grants in the future?

FEMA’s Assistance to Firefighter Grants program continues to be one of the best federal programs in the United States Government. While there are no easy decisions and no easy answers, Cowan and his team are certainly aware that the needs of the U.S. fire service far exceed dollars available.

Deciphering need versus want is never an easy decision even when you’re sitting on $210 million.

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6 Comments to “Station Grant Update”

1. susan sen Says:
   

   August 20th, 2009 at 3:21 am

   Hi,

   I recently came accross your blog and have been reading along. I thought I would leave my first comment. I dont know what to say except that I have enjoyed reading. Nice blog. I will keep visiting this blog very often.
   We have just added your latest post to our site: http://projectgrant.info.

   Susan
   http://projectgrant.info

2. Ron Lapierre Says:
   

   August 22nd, 2009 at 11:01 am

   I do not feel that the rural voluntary fire departments were given a fair opportunity to apply for this grant. A 30 day application window is certainly not enough time for volunteer fire districts to gather enough information needed for the application with the design and construction cost estimates. What is wrong with extending this application time period to 60 or even 90 days? Larger and better financed departments may have the resources to prepare and apply within the current 30 day time specified, but volunteer districts do not have these type of the same resources. Better financied departments may have budgets setup for these type of resources, but I believe that most volunteer departments do not. We had contractors who volunteered their time to put together the specifications and cost estimates needed for this grant, but they could not meet this time-line since they were doing this as a free service for us. Like all the FEMA grants the volunteer departments are not being given a fair chance at these grants due to the 30 day window application periods.
   Ron Lapierre

3. rick anderson Says:
   

   September 2nd, 2009 at 10:28 pm

   As a small rural Fire Chief, the FSG application was very difficult to put together in the time frame. One of the basic factors that will probably NOT allow us to recieve a grant is the inability (financially) to be shovel ready. If we had the land, the design, blueprints, permits and environmental approval, wouldn’t we have already been capable of doing our own station? The grant guidelines basically eliminated the “have nots” once again……….

4. Greg Smith Says:
   

   September 16th, 2009 at 2:11 pm

   The Difference between a “small” department and a “large” department is actually relative. In larger departments, there are “more things to do”, and time is always an issue just as it is for a “small” department. Our Department is probably “large” for a combination department, but our staff is “small”.
   A few years ago, we set up a “Grant Focus Team”, this team meets and develops our materials early, establishing who will be working on what grants. Once you have the basic information that is required for almost all grants, this information can be updated rather quickly and we share our information, often it’s a matter of just cutting and pasting. A great deal of the information you will need is the same for every AFG, or any other grant you apply for. And don’t forget to budget for matching funds, not all grants are “free”. If you want to be able to apply for grants, start early, don’t wait for the grant period to start. Once you have applied for a few grants, the process becomes easier. Look outside of the box, who in your community can help you write grants? Often there are people with skills in your community who can’t or don’t want to be a volunteer firefighter, but they would be happy to volunteer their skills. Apply often; you can’t win if you don’t play. Don’t be self eliminating, lots of “small” departments get grants.

5. Karl Johansson Says:
   

   September 17th, 2009 at 11:52 am

   Does anyone have update / status information on the Fire Station Construction Grant (SCG) Program?

   Inquiring minds want to know…

6. James9 Pearson Says:
   

   September 28th, 2009 at 11:09 am

   I hope the selection proccess for the Fire Station Grants are fair, objective and not politically driven. Many smaller departments do not have the clout, lobbist, or Washington Connections to be considered by any other means except dire need.

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