BOSTON – The Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) announced $3.9 million in direct assistance grants to 288 volunteer and combination fire departments nationwide through the agency’s fiscal year 2020 “Assistance to Firefighters Grant COVID-19 Supplemental” program (AFG-S).
The AFG-S Program includes grants to the following fire departments in Connecticut:
- Ansonia, CT- Ansonia Fire Department- $25,797
- Avon, CT- Avon Volunteer Fire Department- $10,483
- Danbury, CT- Danbury Fire Department- $7,009
- East Haddam, CT- East Haddam Fire Department- $9,928
- East Windsor, CT- Warehouse Point Fire District- $49,714
- Mystic, CT- Mystic Fire Department- $5,047
Authorized and funded through the Coronavirus Aid, Relief and Economic Security (CARES) Act, the Fiscal Year 2020 Assistance to Firefighters Grant COVID-19 Supplemental (AFG-S) is a $100 million supplemental funding opportunity to support the purchase of personal protective equipment (PPE) and related disinfectant supplies and equipment to help the fire services prevent, prepare for and respond to the COVID-19 pandemic.
By law, 25 percent of the available AFG-S funds must be awarded to volunteer fire departments and another 25 percent must be awarded to combination fire departments. The funding being announced today encompasses the fulfillment of that requirement to volunteer and combination fire departments. A volunteer fire department means a fire department that has an all-volunteer force of firefighting personnel. A combination fire department means a fire department that has paid firefighting personnel and volunteer firefighting personnel. Fire departments which pay fees/stipends (paid on-call firefighters) are also considered under this category.
FEMA obligates funding for this project directly to the recipient fire department. It is the recipient’s responsibility to manage their grant award within federal guidelines with technical assistance and monitoring provided by FEMA Fire Program Specialists. Additional information about FEMA’s Assistance to Firefighters grant programs may be found at https://www.fema.gov/firegrants.
