The purpose of this program is to support local fire departments and non-affiliated emergency medical services (EMS) organizations by helping with the acquisition of needed equipment, vehicles, and services. This program will assist departments that lack the tools and resources necessary to protect the health and safety of the public and their firefighting personnel with respect to fire and fire-related hazards.
Funding is available through the following program components:
- (Part A): General Program
- (Part B): Fire Prevention and Safety (FP&S)
- (Part C): Firefighter Safety Research and Development (R&D) Projects
The purpose of the Fire Prevention and Safety (FP&S) component is to support projects designed to reach high-risk target groups and mitigate the incidence of death and injuries caused by fire and fire-related hazards. Eligible project categories supported through this component include the following:
- Community risk reduction: projects that focus on smoke alarms, residential sprinklers, public education, training, general prevention/awareness, wildland fire prevention programs, juvenile firesetter projects, and risk assessments to greatly reduce the risk of fire casualties for the nation’s residents
Code enforcement/awareness: projects that focus on first-time or reinstatement of code adoption or code enforcement; provide assistance for the adoption or awareness of building codes; promote code enforcement; and support the conduct of inspections- Fire and arson investigation: projects that aggressively investigate every fire, as well as projects that request funding for arson investigation trailers, equipment, arson investigator training, arson prevention training, surveillance equipment, personnel costs, educational materials, and media materials
- National/state/regional programs and studies: projects that aim to measurably change firefighter behavior and decision-making
Priority consideration will be given to projects that:
- Include comprehensive home fire safety campaigns with door-to-door smoke alarm installations and/or sprinkler awareness
- Aim to aggressively investigate every fire
- Focus on first-time or reinstatement of code adoption and code enforcement
- Focus on residential fire issues and/or firefighter safety and wellness by dissemination and implementation of programs, policies, or products from previous studies that used rigorous scientific methods to determine effectiveness
Additional consideration will also be given to projects that meet the needs of people with disabilities.