WASHINGTON, DC -- The United States Fire Administration (USFA) will begin sending electronic notifications to some of the Assistance to Firefighter Grant applicants. This notification will indicate the USFA will not be able to fund the department's FY 2002 grant application. This process will begin on Wednesday, August 7th. Approximately 7500 electronic notifications will be sent over a 7 to10 day period. Over 19,500 fire departments submitted grant applications this year, requesting $2.2 billion in funding. The Congress has already provided $360 million for this year, and there is also the potential for an additional $150 million in emergency supplemental funding. Should that supplemental amount become reality, the USFA still anticipates funding an additional 1500 grant awards for an estimated total of 7000 awards.
"With recent emergency supplemental funding discussions concluded, we have a clearer understanding of the probable number of successful applications." This according to Tom Olshanski, USFA Public Information Coordinator. "We are at a point where we can begin to focus our attention on those departments that, while they certainly have genuine needs, will not be funded this year. We believe it is important for us to ensure that all application decisions, even though some are not welcome decisions, are issued to departments as soon as possible."
A communication from USFA Administrator R. David Paulison will be distributed to these 7500 departments starting Wednesday. It is anticipated, an additional 4000 notifications will be distributed in coming weeks and months. If you do not receive a notification, it does not mean your grant request will be funded. The USFA will still need to continue to send out notifications of non-funded applications, after this initial 7500.
The USFA will not be able to provide specific debrief information to applicants. In his notification to departments, Administrator Paulison will discuss aspects of the application process likely to have influenced the decisions for this years funding.
We will continue to post announcements to the website at www.usfa.fema.gov/grants as information becomes available.
