Grants will be awarded directly to local fire departments best able to identify their needs to be used to hire new personnel, initiate education and training programs, or to purchase new equipment. According to FEMA officials, grants will be awarded in seven categories. One of my priorities when creating this grant program was to make funds available for hiring. While this is part of the legislation, it was decided that this year only seven of the fourteen categories would be available for grant applicants. This year's grant cycle will not include hiring as a category for assistance.
Fire departments are eligible to apply for grants in up to two categories.
I invite you to stay in contact with me as we move forward and work toward establishing the grant program. Jan. 23-25 at the National Emergency Training Center to help develop the criteria for evaluating grant proposals. Fire departments are encouraged to monitor the USFA web site for the latest grant program information at WWW.USFA.FEMA.GOV An e-mail list is also available for news updates. To sign up, Internet users can go to the USFA web site and click on the e-mail list link at the bottom of the page.