Fire Departments nationwide are investigating whether they can obtain FEMA Grant funds to purchase equipment or enhance their ability to face a crisis.

        The goal of the FEMA Grants, technically the Assistance to Firefighters Grants (AFG), is to meet the firefighting and emergency response needs of fire departments and nonaffiliated emergency medical services organizations. Since 2001, AFG has helped firefighters and other first responders to obtain critically needed equipment, protective gear, emergency vehicles, training, and other resources needed to protect the public and emergency personnel from fire and related hazards.

        The Next Round Of AFG Grant Applications will be accepted in the early Spring of 2008.  Here are some hints from Breathing Air Systems to help you explore, apply, and to hopefully win your share of the available funds.

1. Decide What You Need

1. Become Familiar With AFG Procedures

1. All Applicants Must Contain a DUNS Number

1. Place the grantor's needs ahead of your own

1. Submit Your Application

Decide What You Need: Here’s where Breathing Air Systems can help the most.  What size compressor or fill system do you need?  What size storage system?  What are your growth plans?  You can find a helpful guide to answer those questions here.  Fill out the form as well as you can, and submit it.  Don’t forget to read over the questions on the bottom.

        Download the 2007 Catalog to help you with your choices. 

        Maybe it’s not a compressor system you need – you may want to apply for an Oxygen Center, or a Mobile Air System.  Give us a call.  No one builds more mobile air trucks and trailers than Breathing Air Systems.  We can help you with the design and the bid process – we have unmatched experience when it comes to building your systems, and with the allowable grant limits.

Become Familiar With AFG Procedures:  This isn’t so difficult.   This website will help: Assistance to Firefighters Grants. 

        You might want to download the 2008 AFG Program Guidance  document, this is a 64 page pdf document.  You can find it here.  Then we recommend you read Grant FAQs, the frequently-asked-questions. 

        It is recommended that you apply for the grant electronically.  Paper applications are accepted, but they are discouraged.

        When we get closer to the application date, an Applicant Tutorial  will be available at the above website.  Also, depending on where you live, there are often classes offered at the regional or state level, offering training to apply for a grant.

        Or, some may decide to hire a grant writer for assistance.  Remember that grant writers do cost money, and that money from FEMA may or may not be applied.

Some other helpful hints:

• Use Micro Soft Access, use dashes not bullet points to start lines (they may be changing to accept bullet points); Space before dashes; all margins 1 inch; sign in blue ink; mark the original.  Do not indent or use  bold; no underlining. Put page numbers with your ID on bottom.   Italics are okay.

• Formatting is the most important, Arial 10 single space is most common in AFG, follow the directions, 5 pages max, 5 objectives in goals unless stated  Do not insert tables, use columns separated by tab stops, do not separate with multiple spaces (Do not format as this document is). 

• Reviewer has 6 minutes to read your grant, there are 3 reviewers for 20k grants

• Have the grant reviewed before submission by 3 parties, 2 who are not familiar with your trade

• Send copy of grant to second computer and server and save on another media

• Get a Letter of Support from your congressional representative.  This will increase the chance of success for your grant.  Grant management specialists review this letter prior to approval and it goes into your file.  When your grant is not approved, they must answer for it to the rep who pays them.

• Your past success will be used to achieve your next grant, if you won a grant, mention it in your new grant.

• The phrases: interagency cooperation, interagency interoperability count for 5 points from FEMA Include mutual aid and transient population if the equipment is being shared by other users

• Justification of higher price is ok, buy quality rather than buy lowest price

• Budget numbers must be exact to the dollar, no cents, never use large, whole. round numbers as this is a red flag of fudging numbers

• Think about your equipment as a training aid Frequency of use may help to justify needs described

• DO NOT use CBRNE as this causes a state review, it can kill your grant with one vote.  AFG needs 2 out of 3 no votes.  CBRNE  upgrades cost only $100.00 per air pack

• 3 Federal opportunities each year for Fire Departments SAFER, AFG, CEDAP

• Use specific language to justify quality and cost such as: ASME tanks: require no future hydro testing saving costs and eliminating the chance of injury to personnel and the community.  A hose and reel will provide for filling mobile air bank, and other mutual aid vehicles with air banks.  A CO monitor as stated in NFPA 1989 2008 and continuous electronic air quality monitoring to prevent filling with poor quality air

All Applicants Must Contain a DUNS Number  This is a Dun & Bradstreet Data Universal Numbering System number.  You can get information on this at http://fedgov.dnb.com/webform.

Place the grantor's needs ahead of your own: FEMA has told us the reason they want to award grants; now you have to let them know how you are going to meet their goals. 

        FEMA is particularly interested in how your acquisition will help the whole community, how you can render crisis assistance and emergency aid, not just for your department, but for your whole area.  Also, the agency is interested where your present equipment is no longer enough to keep you in compliance.  Can this grant bring you from Level B to Level A?

Submit Your Application.  Don’t wait until the last minute to get your preparations done.  Sometime in the Spring, we’ll receive notification of when the applications will be accepted – you should be ready by then.  You will apply here.

        Good luck!  Remember, Breathing Air Systems is here for you.  Feel free to contact us at 1-800-937-2479 or email to sales@breathingair.com