The Assistance to Firefighters Grant (AFG) Program aims to deliver essential resources to equip and train emergency personnel to meet recognized standards.
What This Program Funds
This program funds outfitting responders with compliant personal protective equipment to enhance their safety during incident response, retrofit or modify facilities to address known health hazards, and acquire emergency response vehicles. It also supports the development of health, wellness, and resiliency initiatives to prepare responders for incidents, improve operational efficiency, promote interoperability, and strengthen community resilience.
Allowable project types include operations and safety, vehicle acquisition, and regional projects.
How Your Community Applies
Municipalities and fire departments may apply for up to $1 million through the FEMA GO portal.
Applications are due by June 22, 2026.
Make Your Community’s Application Competitive
- Fees of up to $1,500 for grant writers are eligible as pre-award costs. Pre-award approval from FEMA is required. See Notice of Funding for details.
- Review FEMA's performance measures and targets and the evaluation criteria (financial need, cost benefit, budget, connection to FEMA's needs).
- Make sure your Legislative Body can agree with DHS’ Standard Terms and Conditions prior to investing in an application.
Where You Can Learn More
- Program: https://www.fema.gov/grants/preparedness/firefighters
- Notice of Funding Opportunity: https://grants.gov/search-grants and search Funding Opportunity Number DHS-25-GPD-044-00-98
Find Grant Writing or Grant/Project Management Help
VLCT published a resource, Increasing Municipal Capacity for Grants, that offers ideas for assistance with grants. Many of the capacity builders also provide project management services. Hiring experienced project management assistance can increase the speed of project development and help avoid cost, permitting, and other development surprises.