FIRE Act categories

[Adze39]

From some prelimary stuff I have seen, it looks like there are only 4 categories this year and you can only apply for one...anyone got more info on this?

We were thinking of trying for a duty officer vehicle and/or new SCBA fill station, but if you can only do one then who knows...of course we might decide on something else.

Also, has anyone attended the workshops this time around? And if so, are they worth while?

[dragonfyre]

There are actually going to be 5 categories this year since they added Fire/EMS Equipment, either seperate or part of the F.E. category.

Go to www/dragonflynet.com to see if Rodney Slaughter is doing a seminar in your area. I went to one several years ago and it has helped in both state and the FEMA grants. He also has several links to grant sites and postings of several winning grant narratives (including mine).

Good luck.

[pumper201]

Have you heard any news when FEMA will release any in depth details?Several people in our area was VERY disappointed how the money was passed out last year.I know the poor departments said they couldn't afford to send someone to a grant writing class.VFIS has classes but they charge for them even if you buy their insurance.

[Adze39]

FEMA keeps saying that the final rules will be published in the Federal Register by the end of January...well, tomorrow is the end of January so we will see what happens...

[POC1813]

You don't have to send someone to a "grant writing class" to get a grant. I wrote the grant for our department, and we got $21,500 for a SCBA filling unit, tanks, compressor, and trailer to hold it so it is all mobile.
Just follow the directions, read some of the winning naratives from last year, and put down the info they ask for.
You might even want to have a college student write for you, as they have possibly been in an english writing class more recently than the members of your department, if you don't have many young members.
As a side note: I got below a C in my writing class in college, and didn't get many A's in in high school.

Good luck!

[Adze39]

Poc1813, can you email me your proposal? One of the things we are thinking of is a new filling station. My email is adze@firehousemail.com

Basically, I was told by the director of the CT Fire Academy when I was taking my Fire Service Instructor I class that all you have to do is clearly state what you want and why you need it. You should be able to hand it to some guy off the street and let him read it and he should be able to easily say what you want and why you need it.

[Warren Vaughn]

In regards to the revised catagories this year if yuo are a fire based EMS provider you can apply but it leaves the third service providers left out in the cold. In Tennessee there are a lot of of Third Service providers that could use a little of this funding to upgrade their ppe and response gear to deal with the new threats coming at them.

[pumper201]

Hey ADZE,Guess what 1/31/02 is now history.If you remember the final Federal Register wasn't puplished till way after the closing period last year.We did have imformation this time last year.Are the good or what?I keep forgetting we are fooling with Fed's.What would happen to the fire service if we responded to all tone drops like this?They shouldn't tell us something then don't carry through.

[ALSfirefighter]

Adze,
THe way I read it was you can apply for more then one. You just have to apply for it all at once. We are probably looking for communication equipment and physcial fitness equipment. But way we read it was that the paperwork, or online application has to be done all at once. We'll see how it goes.

[EastKyFF]

Here's my translation of the FEMA release on it.

There are SEVEN categories this year--the same six as last year plus fire-based EMS (grant categories).

You can only apply one time, but you can have one project that encompasses more than one of their general categories (grant purposes, I call them).

The grant PURPOSES are FF ops & safety, prevention, EMS, and vehicles.

So, for example, you could put together a grant to buy a wildland interface rig, plus wildland gear for your personnel. It's a single project--wildland interface mitigation--but the elements of it are in two purpose categories--FF ops & safety (the gear) and vehicles (the truck).

This is stuff I have deduced from the press release at the below URL.

http://www.usfa.fema.gov/grants/02update1.htm