FIRE & EMERGENCY SERVICES FUNDING
________-Popular Opportunities/Estimated Deadline
Cal OES: Hazard Mitigation Grant Program (HMGP)
Deadline: Rolling deadline for NOI, until May 31st 2025
Amount: Project max is unspecified. $150,000 for single jurisdiction plan, $250,000 for multi-jurisdiction plan.
Match: Generally, HMA funds may be used to pay up to 75% of the eligible activity costs. The remaining 25% of eligible activity costs are derived from non-Federal sources
Eligibility: States, local communities and tribal governments
https://www.caloes.ca.gov/cal-oes-divisions/recovery/disaster-mitigation-technical-support/404-hazard mitigation-grant-program
Funding Priorities:
● Local Hazard Mitigation Plans (LHMP) updates that will expire within 24 months. ● All other LHMP updates.
● Shovel ready projects with a high level of design that can begin construction within 90 days of FEMA approval, in declared counties.
● Shovel ready projects with a high level of design that can begin constructions within 90 days of FEMA approval, in all other counties.
● Whole community risk reduction/large critical infrastructure wildfire projects.
● Whole community risk reduction/large critical infrastructure projects for other hazard types. ● Wildfire projects in any county.
● All hazard type projects in any county.
● Planning related activities.
● Five percent (5%) Initiative projects.
Firehouse Subs LIFE-SAVING EQUIPMENT Grant
Deadline: Quarter 3 2025: Thursday, April 3, 2025
Quarter 4 2025: Thursday, July 10, 2025
Quarter 1 2026: Thursday, October 9, 2025
Amount: $15,000 to $35,000
Match: No
Link: https://grants.firehousesubs.com/
The primary focus of the Life-Saving Equipment Grant revolves around providing first responders with the appropriate, quality much-needed equipment and technology to improve their life-saving capabilities. This includes, but is not limited to: License plate readers, Body cameras, Building exhaust removal systems, Crash data boxes; Dash Cams; Drones and drone accessories; Guns/Firearms/Use of Force equipment (e.g., riot gear, laser pointers/designators, tasers); Cardiac Science Powerheart G3 AEDs & Philips FR3 AEDs; Recording devices; Radar detectors; Traffic road barriers; Throw bots; Portable message signs; Narcan/TruNar analyzers; Shop sticks; Power load stretchers; and Security/Surveillance equipment.
California Fire Foundation: 2024 Statewide Grant Cycle
Deadline: June 30, 2025
Amount: $25,000
Eligibility: California-based fire departments, local firefighter associations, federally-recognized tribes, and nonprofit community organizations
URL: https://www.cafirefoundation.org/what-we-do/for-grant-seekers/funding
opportunities?eType=EmailBlastContent&eId=0a5bc418-fc9b-4809-a724-f28a155cfadd Summary: Applicants whose projects focus on wildfire and other climate-related prevention and preparedness efforts are eligible to receive up to $25K, with requests outside this range will be considered on an as-needed basis.
2024 Funding Focus Areas:
· Vegetation Mitigation & Fuels Reduction
· Education, Planning, and/or Community Outreach Campaigns
· Personal Protective Equipment or Specialized Firefighting Equipment
Leary Firefighters Foundation: Jeremiah Lucey Grant Program
Deadline: August 15, annually (LOI)
Amount: $2,500 to $25,000
Match: No
Eligibility: Paid and volunteer fire departments
https://learyfirefighters.org/grant/
The Leary Firefighters Foundation is dedicated to enhancing fire departments across the United States. Through the Jeremiah Lucey Grant Program, the Foundation provides funding to paid and volunteer fire departments throughout the country in the following areas: training to enhance the professional development of departments; equipment, so that fire departments are outfitted with the best possible equipment to help keep firefighters and the communities they serve safe; and technology, to ensure that fire departments update along with technological advances.
Brothers Helping Brothers
Deadline: Ongoing
Amount: Varies. Award examples vary between $500 and $13,000
Eligibility: Fire departments and EMS organizations serving a population of less than 10,000 and less than 30 employees with majority as volunteer or paid call
https://www.brothershelpingbrothers.org/
https://www.brothershelpingbrothers.org/grant-request/
Brothers Helping Brothers helps small and rural fire departments throughout the U.S. with equipment needs by donating vital life-saving tools. Equipment grants as well as used equipment donations are provided.
Marathon Petroleum Foundation
Deadline: Ongoing
Amount: Not specified
Match: No
Eligibility: Nonprofits, federal, state or local government entity in communities where company has significant presence
https://www.marathonpetroleum.com/Sustainability/Community-Investment/
Marathon provides funding for projects in the following categories:
• Environmental conservation and
• Public safety
Firefighters Charitable Foundation
Deadline: Continuous
Amount: Varies
Match: None
Eligibility: Grants are given to assist local fire/disaster victims, fire prevention education, volunteer fire department equipment purchase, and community safety programs
https://www.ffcf.org/fire-departments
Assists fire and disaster victims; and supports
Volunteer Fire Departments. Grants offered for the following needs/programs: AED (Automatic External Defibrillator); Fire Department Equipment Program; Community Smoke Detector Program; and the Juvenile Fire-setter Prevention and Intervention Program.
CalFIRE: Rural Fire Capacity (RFC) Grant:
Deadline: March 2025
Amount: $500 to $20,000
Match: 50%
Federally-funded grant program that allows California to provide local and rural fire departments with minor firefighting, training, communications and safety equipment for their volunteer firefighters. The RFC Program is not intended for major equipment (fire engines, vehicles, etc) or Capital repairs. The RFC Program has a 50/50 match requirement which means that the applying department must be able to meet the intended grant award, dollar for dollar. Awards for departments are set at a minimum of $500 with a maximum of $20,000. Amounts may be adjusted based on the grant funding available.
Link: https://www.grants.ca.gov/grants/rural-fire-capacity/#:~:text=The%20
Rural%20Fire% 2 0 Capacity%20(RFC,equipment%20for%20the%20 volunteer%20 firefighters
CalFIRE: Wildfire Resilience and Forestry Assistance Grant
Deadline: February 2025
Amount: Up to $7 million may be awarded through this grant solicitation for projects addressing Action Items 1.11, 1.13 and 1.14. The minimum grant request should be no less than $1 million. The maximum allowable is $3 million. Up to $1 million may be awarded through this grant solicitation for projects addressing Action Item. 1.10. The minimum grant request should be no less than $500,000.
Eligibility: Applicants submitting projects addressing action items 1.11, 1.13 and 1.14 are limited to Resource Conservation Districts (RCD’s) and special districts capable of acting as lead agency for CEQA projects. These applicants must demonstrate they have the capacity to deliver a forestry based technical and financial assistance program to non-industrial forest landowners. Applicants submitting projects addressing action items 1.10 are limited counties, resource conservation districts, special districts, and 501(c)(3) non-profit organizations.
Match: Varies based on Action Item (See Guidelines)
https://www.fire.ca.gov/what-we-do/natural-resource-management/wildfire-resilience The purpose of the block grant is to allow prospective grantees the ability to provide a program of financial and technical forestry assistance to nonindustrial forest landowners, where the grantee serves as the supervising entity, receives the grant from CAL FIRE and then provides outreach and/or technical/financial assistance to landowners so they can conduct forest restoration or management activities on their property. CAL FIRE's Wildfire Resilience team seeks to maintain and enhance the resilience of California’s small non industrial private forestland owners to promote healthy resilient forests throughout the state by supporting a diverse set of projects designed to interact with landowners. Depending on the grant objectives, grants can prove the following:
- Funding of forest improvement practices including but not limited to tree and brush thinning, tree release, pruning, site preparation and tree planting, follow up work to support tree growth, and/or slash disposal.
- Technical assistance
This program remains dependent on special funds.
CA FireSafe Council: State Fire Capacity (SFC) Grant
Deadline: March 2025
Amount: $100,000
Match: 1:1
Eligibility: Resource Conservation Districts, Municipalities: Towns and Cities and Counties, Joint-Powers Authorities, Special Districts, et al.
https://cafiresafecouncil.org/grants-and-funding/2023-2024-sfc-grant-program/
Background: Funding is provided through a master grant awarded to CFSC by the U.S. Forest Service and is administered through CFSC’s Grants Clearinghouse program. Up to $1,575,000 will be awarded. CFSC will issue sub-awards to successful applicants that support fire risk reduction activities by landowners and residents
in at-risk communities to restore and maintain resilient landscapes and create fire-adapted communities. Overview of the grant program, application process, and workshop details will be posted on the CFSC website soon.
Projects may focus on one or more of these categories:
• Fuel Hazard Mitigation on non-federal land, such as chipping, thinning, grazing, herbicide application, and mastication.
• Community Hazard Mitigation Planning such as Community Wildfire Protection Plans, Firewise assessments, hazard assessments, and similar types of plans.
• Prevention and Mitigation Education such as outreach, mailings, workshops, events, public service announcements, and other education programs.
FEMA: Staffing for Adequate Fire and Emergency Response (SAFER)
Deadline: April 2025
Amount: No minimum or maximum amounts. $360 million for the entire program.
Match: No
Eligibility: Fire departments
Program URL: https://www.fema.gov/grants/preparedness/firefighters/safer
Summary: The SAFER Program provides funding directly to fire departments and volunteer firefighter interest organizations to assist in increasing the number of firefighters to help communities meet industry minimum standards and attain 24-hour staffing to provide adequate fire protection from fire and fire-related hazards, and to fulfill traditional missions of fire departments. The objectives of the SAFER Program are to assist local fire departments with staffing and deployment capabilities to respond to emergencies and ensure that communities have adequate protection from fire and fire-related hazards. Local fire departments accomplish this by improving staffing and deployment capabilities, so they may more effectively and safely respond to emergencies. With enhanced staffing levels, recipients should experience a reduction in response times and an increase in the number of trained personnel assembled at the incident scene. Eligibility Criteria
Hiring Activity
The Hiring Activity offers grants to support applications to hire new, additional firefighters (or to change the status of part-time or paid-on-call firefighters to full-time firefighters), rehire laid off firefighters, or to retain firefighters facing layoff. National, regional, state, local, tribal, and nonprofit interest organizations representing the interests of volunteer firefighters are not eligible to receive a SAFER Program award under the Hiring Activity
R&R Activity
The R&R Activity offers grants to support applications to assist fire departments with the recruitment and retention of volunteer firefighters who are involved with or trained in the operations of firefighting and emergency response. Career fire departments are not eligible to apply for funding under the R&R Activity.
FEMA: Fire Prevention & Safety (FP&S)
Deadline: April 2025
Amount: Up to $1.5 million
Match: Yes - 5%
Eligibility: Fire departments, nonprofits, research foundations, public safety institutes, public health, occupational health, and injury prevention institutions
Program URL: https://www.fema.gov/grants/preparedness/firefighters/safety-awards Summary: The FP&S Program provides financial assistance for fire prevention programs and firefighter health and safety research and development such as clinical studies that address behavioral, social science, and cultural research.
The funding categories for FP&S are:
1. Community Risk Reduction;
2. Wildfire Risk Reduction;
3. Code Enforcement/Awareness;
4. Fire & Arson Investigation; and
5. National/State/Regional Programs and Projects.
The funding categories for R&D are:
1. Clinical Studies;
2. Technology and Product Development;
3. Database System Development;
4. Preliminary Studies; and,
5. Early Career Investigator.
FP&S Activities
The FP&S Activity is designed to reach high-risk target groups and mitigate the incidence of death and injuries caused by fire and fire-related hazards. The five project categories eligible for funding under this activity are: 1. Community Risk Reduction;
2. Wildfire Risk Reduction;
3. Code Enforcement/Awareness;
4. Fire & Arson Investigation; and
5. National/State/Regional Programs and Projects.
R&D Activities
The R&D Activity is aimed at improving firefighter safety, health, or well-being through research and development that reduces firefighter fatalities and injuries. The five project categories eligible for funding under this activity are:
1. Clinical Studies;
2.Technology and Product Development;
3. Database System Development;
4. Preliminary Studies; and,
5. Early Career Investigator.
CalFIRE: Urban and Community Forestry Grant
Deadline: May 2025
Amount: $150,000 to $1.5M (or up to $3M if the project is regional)
Match: No
https://www.fire.ca.gov/what-we-do/grants/urban-and-community-forestry-grants
The Urban and Community Forestry Grant Program strives to increase the long-term benefits trees provide, improve the public’s understanding and appreciation of urban trees, and advance urban forest management and tree care. Projects MUST serve disadvantaged and/or low-income communities.
USDA: Urban and Community Forestry Grant
Deadline: June 2025 (est)
Amount: The minimum Federal funding amount for projects is $100,000. The maximum Federal funding limit is $50,000,000.
Match: 50%, but can be waived if a severely disadvantaged community
https://www.fs.usda.gov/managing-land/urban-forests/ucf
California Consulting’s Podcast about this grant:
https://open.spotify.com/episode/2YF7nJ60A3PfUzGbbJH6zg?si=7e97ab0584e24df7
Inflation Reduction Action of 2022, Public Law No: 117-169. Subtitle D, Sec. 23003 (a). State and Private Forestry Conservation Programs, (2) Urban and Community Forestry (2022-2031) to provide multiyear, programmatic, competitive grants for tree planting and related activities, with a priority for projects that benefit underserved populations and areas through the Urban and Community Forestry Assistance program established under section 9(c) of the Cooperative Forestry Assistance Act Of 1978
FEMA: Regional Catastrophic Preparedness Grant Program
Deadline: July 2025
Amount: Around $500,000
Match: None
https://www.fema.gov/grants/preparedness/regional-catastrophic#nofos
The Regional Catastrophic Preparedness Grant Program (RCPGP) plays an important role in the implementation of the National Preparedness System. RCPGP supports the building of core capabilities essential to achieving the National Preparedness Goal of a secure and resilient nation by providing resources to close known capability gaps in Housing and Logistics and Supply Chain Management, encouraging innovative regional solutions to issues related to catastrophic incidents, and building on existing regional efforts.
CNRA: Community Wildfire Prevention and Mitigation
Deadline: July 2025 (est.)
Amount: up to $500,000
Match: No
https://resources.ca.gov/Initiatives/Community-Wildfire-Prevention-and-Mitigation
As part of the State of California’s effort to strengthen community-wide resilience against wildfires, the California Governor’s Office of Emergency Services (Cal OES) has partnered with the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection (CAL FIRE) to develop a state home hardening initiative to retrofit, harden, and create defensible space for homes at high risk to wildfires, focusing on high socially-vulnerability communities and providing financial assistance for low- and moderate-income households. Governor Gavin Newsom signed Assembly Bill 38 in 2019 authorizing Cal OES and CAL FIRE to enter into a joint powers agreement to oversee the development and implementation of the Program.
Known as the Home Hardening Program, this effort encourages cost-effective wildfire resilience measures to create fire-resistant homes, businesses, public buildings, and public spaces. Mitigation measures such as home hardening, vegetation management, defensible space, and other fuel modification activities provide neighborhood or community-wide benefits against wildfire.
Cal OES: Hazard Mitigation Grant Program (HMGP) Post-Fire
Deadline: November 2025
Amount: $11 million total available
Match: 25% (can be in-kind contributions)
Eligibility: Local governments, including counties, cities, special districts, and tribal governments in eligible counties: San Bernardino, Butte, Riverside, Mariposa, Tehama, Kern, Los Angeles, and Lake. The project must align with one of the following categories:
● Wildfire Mitigation
● Infrastructure Retrofit
● Soil and Slope Stabilization
● Post-Fire Flood Prevention
The risk (e.g., wildfire risk) must be identified in the Local Hazard Mitigation Plan (LHMP), though the specific project does not need to be listed. Projects in declared counties are prioritized, and a high level of project design is encouraged to ensure quick start after FEMA approval.
Link: Cal OES Hazard Mitigation Grant Program
Purpose: The Hazard Mitigation Grant Program (HMGP) Post-Fire program provides funding to mitigate risks after a wildfire disaster, specifically targeting areas vulnerable to erosion, flooding, and future fires. Eligible projects include wildfire mitigation, retrofitting of infrastructure to withstand future disasters, and stabilizing soil and slopes to prevent post-fire floods and landslides. The aim is to enhance community resilience and prevent future damage from disasters.
FEMA: AFG-Assistance to Firefighters grant
Deadline: December 2025
Amount: Varies
Eligibility: Fire departments operating in any of the 50 states
Match: Yes, but exceptions if you meet a certain req.
https://www.fema.gov/grants/preparedness/firefighters/assistance-grants/documents
Fire safety grants fund critically needed resources to equip and train emergency personnel, enhance efficiencies and support community resilience.
FM Global:Fire Prevention Grant Program
Deadline: Currently restructuring their grant program, stay tuned
Amount: $2,500
Match: No
Eligibility: Governmental unit or nonprofit
https://www.fmglobal.com/about-us/our-business/corporate-responsibility/fm-global-fire-prevention-grant program
Through its Fire Prevention Grant Program, FM Global supports organizations in the United States working to combat fire. Fire departments and brigades, as well as national, state, regional, local, and community organizations can apply for funding to support a wide array of fire prevention, preparedness, and control efforts, including pre-incident planning, fire prevention education and
training, and arson prevention or fire investigation.