Volunteer Fire Assistance Grants (FL)

The Volunteer Fire Assistance Grants (FL) program offers essential financial and technical support to rural fire departments serving communities with populations of 10,000 or less. This initiative aims to enhance firefighting capabilities and safety through funding that must be matched by non-federal dollars. Eligible departments can use the funds for training and necessary equipment, with a focus on benefiting the rural population. Grants are available for one year following approval, facilitating ongoing support for rural fire protection.

NOTE: Grant applications will be approved regularly until funding is exhausted. Please take advantage of the program. You may participate multiple times in the grant process throughout the year.
The purpose of the Volunteer Fire Assistance (VFA) Program, formerly known as the Rural Community Fire Protection Program, is to provide federal financial, technical and other assistance to state foresters to organize, train and equip fire departments in rural areas and rural communities to prevent and suppress fires. A rural community is defined as having a population of 10,000 or less, or as defined below. This 10,000-population limit for participation in the VFA Program facilitates distribution of available VFA funds to the most needy fire departments. The funding must be matched on a 50-50 percent basis by non-federal dollars.
Grants run for one year after date of approval.

Eligibility

Eligibility requirements for the use of VFA funding are as follows:A single fire department serving a rural area or a rural community with a population of 10,000 or less is eligible (latest Census). Area fire departments (fire districts, townships, etc.) may serve an aggregate population of greater than 10,000 as long as the service area of the fire department includes a rural area or a rural community having a population of 10,000 or less. The VFA funding must be used to benefit the rural population. A single county or town with a population over 10,000 which is served by two or more fire districts operating entirely within the bounds of the county or town may qualify as long as the service area of a given fire department includes a rural area or a rural community or the population of the fire department's jurisdiction is 10,000 or less. The VFA funding must be used for the rural area. A single community with a population greater than 10,000 and having a single fire department with one or more fire stations may qualify. The fire department must have a service area that includes a rural area or community that does not exceed 10,000 population. The VFA funding must be used only for the benefit of the rural population. Similarly a single community with a population greater than 10,000, which also provide fire protection to an adjoining rural community of 10,000 or less population by contract, may also be eligible provided the VFA funding is used entirely to support the rural community.Fire Departments must be National Incident Management System (NIMS) compliant. A rural volunteer fire department is defined as “an organized, not for profit, fire protection organization that provides service primarily to a community or city with a population of 10,000 or less or to a rural area, as defined by the Secretary of Agriculture, whose firefighting personnel is 80 percent or more volunteer, and that is recognized as a fire department by the laws of the State.” 16 U.S.C. 2106.

Ineligibility

A single community fire department serving a population greater than 10,000 and not providing protection to a rural area or to a rural community is not eligible for VFA financial assistance.The purchase of vehicles and high value equipment will not be funded due to the limited amount of funds available.Purchases made before the date of the VFA application are not eligible for reimbursement.