Assistance to Firefighters Grant Program

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Assistance to Firefighters Grant Program

• 2008

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Introduction

• Name Warren Jorgenson
• Title Southern District Coordinator
• Work Location Willmar
• Methods of Contact 320-894-5071
• Office
• Email wrjorgen_at_tds.net

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Introduction

• Name Steve Dumovich
• Title Fire Program Spec
• Work Location Chicago, IL
• Methods of Contact
• Office [phone]
• Email Steve.dumovich_at_dhs.gov

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Grants Administered by AFG Program Office

• Staffing for Adequate Fire and Emergency
  Response (SAFER)
• Fire Prevention and Firefighter Safety
  Research and Development (FPS)
• Assistance to Firefighters Grants (AFG)

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Who is interested?

• Please raise your hand if you fall into one
• of the following categories
• Who is interested in learning more about the
  SAFER Grants?
• Who is interested in learning more about the Fire
  Prevention Safety Grants?

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Total 2008 Appropriation

• 750 million
• AFG 560 million
• SAFER 190 million
• Includes a minimum of 28 million for FPS and
  11.2 million for EMS

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• 2008 Assistance
• to Firefighters Grants

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Introduction

• Please raise your hand if you fall into one
• of the following categories
• I represent an organization that has never
  applied for an AFG Grant.
• I represent an organization that has applied for
  an AFG Grant but never been awarded.

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Introduction

• AFG Program Overview
• Whats New for AFG in 2008
• Application and Electronic Scoring
• Developing a Comprehensive Narrative
• Exercise
• Summary

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Assistance to Firefighters Grants

• 2008 Funding
• 560 million
• Includes 11.2 million for EMS
• and 28 million for FPS

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Assistance to Firefighters Grants

• Purpose
• Protect the public and fire service personnel
  from fire and all other hazards.

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Assistance to Firefighters Grants

• Eligible Applicants
• Fire departments
• Nonaffiliated EMS organizations

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Assistance to Firefighters Grants

• There are two program areas under AFG
• Vehicle Acquisition
• Operations and Safety

FY 2008 Assistance to Firefighters Grant Program
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Assistance to Firefighters Grant

• Vehicle Acquisition Activity
• Awards are capped at 25 of
• the appropriation
• Specific priorities based on type of
• community served and other
• Department characteristics

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Fire Apparatus Priorities
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EMS Vehicle Priorities
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Assistance to Firefighters Grant

• Operations and Safety Activities
• Training
• Equipment
• Personal Protective Equipment
• Modifications to facilities
• Wellness/fitness services

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Assistance to Firefighters Grant

• Requires a local cash match based on population
  served.
• Under 20,000 population 5
• 20,000 - 50,000 population 10
• Over 50,000 population 20

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Assistance to Firefighters Grant

• Regional Applications
• Eligible applicants may act as a host for a
  regional application.
• Regional Projects should be designed to
  facilitate interoperability and efficiency among
  participants.
• Standardization does not necessarily equate to
  interoperability.

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Assistance to Firefighters Grant Maximum
Federal Funding

• Federal Funding
• 1,000,000
• 1,750,000
• 2,750,000

Population Less than 500,000 500,000 -
1,000,000 More than 1,000,000
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Questions?
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Whats New for

• 2008

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All the 2007 AFG Program Changes Remain

• Previous vehicle awardees are eligible for
  another vehicle award in 2008.
• Urban/suburban applicants may request multiple
  vehicles on the same application.
• All applicants may submit three separate
  applications one for Vehicle Acquisition, the
  other for Operations and Safety Activities, the
  third for a regional project.
• Population protected and call volume will be
  factors considered in all activities.

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New for 2008 Emphasis on Training

• Applicants will be asked if 100 of their active
  firefighters are trained to NFPA 1001. If not,
  applicants will be asked if they are seeking
  funding in their application to achieve training
  to NFPA 1001. These questions will be asked for
  every activity.

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New for 2008 Personal Protective Clothing

• Applicants will be required to provide more
  detail in their requests regarding existing
  equipment inventory.
• The age of existing equipment inventory will be
  considered in all phases of review.

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New for 2008 Self Contained Breathing Apparatus

• Applicants with SCBA that are compliant to
• To NFPA 1981 (1997 edition) are a low priority.
• To NFPA 1981 (2002 edition) are a lower priority.
  

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New for 2008 Ineligible Activities for Regional
Applicants

• The following activities are not eligible for
  Regional Grant Applications
• Wellness and Fitness
• Personal Protective Equipment
• Modifications to Facilities
• Vehicles

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New for 2008 All Terrain Vehicles

• Requests for ATVs at a total project cost of
  15,000 or more will be considered a vehicle and
  must be submitted under the Vehicle Acquisition
  activity.

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Questions?
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Application
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Application

• Web-based and linked to a secure database.
• Designed to identify requests closely aligned
  with program priorities.
• Created in conjunction with fire
  service professionals.

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Electronic Scoring

• WHY ELECTRONIC SCORING?
• Used to identify applications with the most
  critical needs for panel review.
• Speeds awards to applicants
• Significantly reduces administrative costs

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Electronic Scoring

• Priorities are established for each activity.
• Questions are crafted to identify highest
  priority applicants.
• Most will be found in the Request Details
  screens.
• Answers are assigned value with the highest value
  going to the highest priority.

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Electronic ScoringExample OnePersonal
Protective Equipment

• Fire Department A
• 150 incidents per year
• 20 firefighters
• 4 firefighters with old, worn out turnout gear
• 16 firefighters have new gear

• Fire Department B
• 100 incidents per year
• 20 firefighters
• 16 firefighters with old, worn out turnout gear
• 4 firefighters have new turnout gear

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Electronic ScoringExample One

• Fire Department B has one characteristic that
  makes their request more critical
• Higher percentage of firefighters with unsafe
  turnout gear
• A higher electronic score will be applied to Fire
  Department B.

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Electronic ScoringExample TwoVehicle Acquisition

• Fire Department A
• Replacing a 20 year old pumper
• Responds to 65 incidents per year.

• Fire Department B
• Replacing a 12 year old pumper
• Responds to 855 incidents per year.

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Electronic ScoringExample TwoVehicle Acquisition

• Fire Department B has one characteristic that
  makes their request more critical
• Respond to 13 times more incidents per year.
• A higher electronic score will be applied to Fire
  Department B.

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Linking Up

• Vulnerabilities

Request Details Questions
Compare Your Answers
Program Priorities
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Planning Your ApplicationProgram Priorities

• The single most important thing applicants can do
  to ensure they have the best opportunity for
  success is to closely align high risks to AFG
  program priorities.
• DO NOT DEVIATE

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Planning Your ApplicationDetermine Risk

• Are you sufficiently prepared to respond safely
  to your risks?
• Where/when are your responders/citizens
  vulnerable?
• Are there weakness in the organization that put
  firefighters/citizens at risk?

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What do we accomplish by answering these
questions?

• Create the basis for your application.

FY 2008 Assistance to Firefighters Grant Program
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Questions?
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Planning and Developing a Narrative

• All three grants opportunities require a
  narrative each with specific elements that must
  be addressed.

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Applications receive a lower score if all
elements are not addressed.
Financial Need
Cost-Benefit
Effect on Daily Operations
Project Description
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The AFG Narrative

• Four elements must be addressed
• Project Description And Budget
• Financial Need
• Cost/Benefit
• Effect on Daily Operations

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Identifying Risks

• Three Bodies of Information
• History trends frequency - severity
• Current financial - core mission - political
• Future possibilities - probabilities -
  certainties

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Key PointNarrative

• Remember, your peers will be reading your
  narrative, so write the narrative to make your
  need clear to them.
• Relate only local information not national
  statistics.
• Provide only information they dont know.
• Remember to discuss the training status of your
  personnel.

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Organizing Your Narrative

• Problem Statement
• Main Point
• Supporting Statements
• Summary

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Key PointNarrative

• Comprehensive and competitive narratives are
• Well conceived
• Organized
• Concise
• Centered on top priorities

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NarrativeProject Description and Budget

• Who are you?
• Where are you?
• What is your identified risk/problem?
• What is your solution/remedy?
• What standards will be met?
• How much will it cost?

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Narrative Financial Need

• Why do you need money from the Federal
  government?
• Briefly describe your income compared to your
  expenses to illustrate your current funding
  deficiencies.
• Explain your other attempts to fund needs.
• Explain financial and community trends or changes.

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Narrative Cost/Benefit

• Explain what you are receiving in return for the
  grant funds.
• Frequency of use vs. cost
• Increased efficiency of operation
• Most economical solution
• Interoperability
• Consequences of not receiving award

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Narrative Effect on Daily Operations

• How will this grant improve firefighter safety,
  reduce loss of life and property?
• Frequency of use.
• Describe how you will measure results.

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Do not leave the panelist wondering.

• Unexplained statement.
• We have an unsafe condition in fire station 12.
• We lack sufficient funds to install this
  sprinkler system.

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NarrativeHelpful Hints

• Write the narrative offline.
• Make sure that it is complete before you submit
  it. Seek a third-party review.
• Avoid using templates from other sources.
• Once the application has been submitted, it
  cannot be changed!

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Narrative Scoring Exercise

• Review and score the narrative.
• Each element has the same weight.
• Your summary score should reflect the total score
  of all four elements.
• Please complete your rating in 15 minutes..

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Time is up
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Summaryand Final Thoughts
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Three steps to Successful Narrative Grant Writing

• Focus on critical needs exclusively.
• 2. Convey sound planning.
• Organized and planned narratives score higher.
  Not something written at the last moment.
• Know national standards, Federal regulations and
  have a sound solution.

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Other AFG Grant Possibilities

• Please raise your hand if you fall into one
• of the following categories
• Who is interested in learning more about the
  SAFER Grants?
• Who is interested in learning more about the Fire
  Prevention Safety Grants?

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Staffing for Adequate Fire and Emergency
Response(SAFER) Grants Overview
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2008 SAFER Funding

• 190 Million
• for
• SAFER Grants

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SAFER Eligible Activities

• Hiring of Firefighters Activity (five years with
  match )
• Recruitment and Retention of Volunteer
  Firefighters Activity (up to 4 years with no
  match)

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SAFER

• Hiring Firefighters
• Purpose
• Improve the ability of fire departments to
  assemble sufficient firefighters on structure
  fires in compliance with NFPA 1710 and 1720
• Assist fire departments in reaching four person
  staffing on first arriving suppression unit for
  structure fires as listed in OSHA 1910.134g

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SAFER Eligible Applicants

• Hiring of Firefighters Activity
• Career departments
• Combination departments
• Volunteer departments

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SAFER Match for Hiring

• Grantees must match an increasing
• portion of the salary over a 5-year period.
• Federal Share year one up to 90
• Federal Share year two 80
• Federal Share year three 50
• Federal Share year four 30
• Grantee match year five 100

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Key Factors for Hiring of Firefighters Activity

• Grantees must maintain the number of authorized
  and funded positions, as declared at the time of
  application, plus the awarded new firefighter
  positions throughout the five-year period of
  performance.

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SAFER

• Recruitment and Retention of
• Volunteer Firefighters
• Purpose
• Assist departments that are experiencing a high
  rate of turnover to maintain and/or increase
  staffing
• Increase departments staffing to comply with
  assembly requirements of NFPA and four-person
  staffing per OSHA

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SAFER Eligible Applicants

• Recruitment and Retention of
• Volunteer Firefighters Activity
• Volunteer departments
• Combination departments
• State and local organizations with an interest in
  volunteer firefighters

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SAFER Match for Recruitment and Retention

• There is NO MATCH for Recruitment and Retention
  grants!

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SAFER Funding Limits

• 10 of funding is designated for hiring of
  firefighters in volunteer or mostly volunteer
  departments.
• 10 of funding is designated for Recruitment and
  Retention activities.
• 108,380 limit for each firefighter position
  spread over the life of the grant.

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Fire Prevention and Firefighters Safety Research
and Development
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FPS Funding

• Funding for Fire Prevention and Safety is about
  35 million (no less than 5 of the AFG
  appropriation).

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FPS

• Examples of Eligible Projects
• Public safety education
• Code enforcement/awareness
• Arson prevention/awareness
• Juvenile fire-setter programs
• Sprinkler awareness
• Smoke alarm distribution
• Burn prevention
• Firefighter safety RD

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FPS Eligible Applicants

• Any organization that has experience in fire
  prevention activities or that conducts research
  in fire safety activities is eligible to apply
  for this grant opportunity.

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FPS Match

• For fire departments, the match is based on
  population
• less than 20,000 5
• between 20,000 and 50,000 10
• over 50,000 20
• For other applicants, there is no cost share.

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FPS Funding Limits

• A of funding is awarded for Firefighter Safety
  Research and Development
• 1,000,000 limit for any application

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Questions?
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Applicant Assistance

• Regional Points of Contact
• http//www.firegrantsupport.com/prog/contact.aspx
  
• Help Desk 1-866-274-0960
• Email firegrants_at_dhs.gov
• Website www.firegrantsupport.com

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Questions
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Thank you
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Applicant Support

• Program Guidance
• Applicant Tutorial
• Regional Points of Contact
• http//www.firegrantsupport.com/prog/contact.aspx
  
• Help Desk 1-866-274-0960
• E- Mail firegrants_at_dhs.gov
• Website www.firegrantsupport.com

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Applicant Support

• For more information regarding NIMS compliance,
  use the following contacts
• Website http//www.fema.gov/emergency/nims/index.
  shtm
• Alternative website http//www.fema.gov/emergency
  /nims/nims_compliance.shtm
• E-mail NIMS-Integration-Center_at_dhs.gov
• Phone [phone]
• NFIRS
• Website http//www.usfa.dhs.gov/fireservice/nfirs
  /support/index.shtm
• Phone [phone]

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Applicant Support Region V

• Region V Serving IL, IN, MI, MN, OH, WI
• Steve Dumovich Steve.dumovich_at_dhs.gov536 S.
  Clark Street Suite 608 Chicago, IL 60605 Ph
  [phone] Fax [phone]
• Vikki Hanson Victoria.hanson_at_dhs.govPh (312)
  408-5327
• Lori SmithLori.smith_at_associates.dhs.govFire
  Program SpecialistDepartment of Homeland
  SecurityOffice of Grants and Training 536 S
  Clark Street, 6th FloorChicago, IL 60605Ph
  [phone] Fax [phone]

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News Flash

• OMB Reasons 
• Some items appear to not have an impact on
  terrorism.
• The PG has been in the hands of the Deputy
  Secretary since August of 2007

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News Flash

• News Flash 
• March 3 Application Period Start May Temporarily
  Postponed The United States Department of
  Homeland Security is in the process of finalizing
  the Fiscal Year 2008 Assistance to Firefighter
  Grants guidance's and applications. Once a final
  determination has been made regarding the
  application release date, this site will send a
  notification email to the AFG Program newsletter
  subscriber list. Thank you.
• Posted Feb 20, 2008

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National Organizations

• Int. Assn of Fire Chiefs (IAFC)
• Int. Assn of Firefighters (IAFF)
• National Volunteer Fire Council (NVFC)
• National Fire Protection Assn (NFPA)
• National Assn of State Fire Marshals (NASFM)
• National Assn of Arson Investigators (NAFI)
• Int. Society of Fire Service Instructors (ISFSI)
• North American Fire Training Directors (NAFTD)
• Congressional Fire Service Institute (CFSI)