Assistance to Firefighters Grant Program

 

The NVFC strongly supports full funding of the Assistance to Firefighters Grant (AFG) program and the Staffing for Adequate Fire and Emergency Response (SAFER) grant program. AFG is a competitive program that awards one-year grants directly to fire departments nationwide in an effort to give every department the basic tools needed to respond to all hazards. Fire departments can apply for federal assistance for training, equipment, firefighting vehicles, communications equipment, health and safety programs and fire prevention and education programs.

 

The SAFER Grant program provides grants to fire departments for the hiring of personnel and/or to fire departments or regional and state fire associations to implement retention and recruitment programs. Ten percent of SAFER funding is statutorily required to be set aside for volunteer recruitment and retention. In addition, the program includes NVFC-backed provisions that ensure at least ten percent of the funds for hiring firefighters go to volunteer and majority volunteer departments and that any firefighter hired under this program cannot be discriminated against for or prohibited from engaging in volunteer activities in another jurisdiction during off-duty hours.

 

The NVFC participates regularly in stakeholder meetings hosted by DHS to discuss AFG and SAFER program priorities. Every year, three NVFC board members will participate in criteria development for AFG and SAFER at the National Fire Academy in Emmitsburg, MD. The criteria development meeting has been held annually since the inception of AFG nearly a decade ago and the NVFC has always participated.  NVFC board members also participate in periodic strategic planning meetings for AFG and SAFER held at different times throughout the year.

 

AFG was funded at $390 million in FY 2010, a reduction of $175 million from FY 2009. President Obama proposed reducing funding to $170 million in his FY 2010 budget request. The President proposed doubling funding for SAFER from $210 million in FY 2009 to $420 million in FY 2010, a recommendation that was adopted by Congressional appropriators.

 

For FY 2011, the President has proposed funding AFG and SAFER at $305 million each. The NVFC signed onto a letter with a number of other fire service organizations asking for AFG and SAFER to be funded at $420 million and subsequently met with House and Senate Appropriations Committee staff to explain the request in detail.

 

AFG and SAFER are also due to be reauthorized this year. In November 2009, the House of Representatives passed H.R. 3791, the Fire Grants Reauthorization Act, which extends AFG and SAFER for five years and makes a number of changes to both programs. The NVFC is supportive of H.R. 3791, which includes several important reforms that the NVFC pushed for, including: eliminating the local match for fire departments applying for Fire Prevention and Safety (FP&S) funding through AFG; allowing national organizations to apply for SAFER recruitment and retention funding, which state and regional organizations are already allowed to do; and making state fire training academies eligible to apply for AFG funds to purchase equipment and apparatus.

 

On April 27, 2010, Senator Christopher Dodd (D-CT) introduced the Fire Grants Reauthorization Act of 2010 (S. 3267) along with original co-sponsors Thomas Carper (D-DE), Susan Collins (R-ME), Joseph Lieberman (D-CT), and John McCain (R-AZ). The bill was reported favorably out of the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee on April 28. The Senate bill is similar in many respects to the House version but does include several differences. Click here to learn more.