Requests for federal funding to support understaffed fire departments across the United States ran about 17 times the startup funding available under the new program this year.

Nearly 3,000 fire departments submitted applications for the Staffing for Adequate Fire and Emergency Response grants, requesting more than $1.1 billion in federal funds to address understaffing in fire departments, according to a report posted by the Department of Homeland Security.

In 2005, $65 million is available to support fire department hiring and volunteer recruitment and retention.

Including the nonfederal share of the projects, SAFER application projects totaled nearly $2.9 billion.

The application period for SAFER grants ended June 28. The Assistance to Firefighters Grant Program Office, under the authority of the DHS Office for State and Local Government Coordination and Preparedness, administers the program. According to DHS, the data may change slightly as the applications are processed.

Other tidbits from the DHS report:

• The overwhelming majority of the grant applications asked for funding for hiring firefighters, about $835 million, versus $158 million for a combination of hiring and recruitment and retention projects and $147 million asking for funding only for recruitment and retention.
• The average federal share of the applications for hiring firefighters was more than $500,000.
• Grants requesting funding for help with volunteer recruitment and retention averaged nearly $147,000.
• Combination fire departments with more volunteers than career personnel submitted the largest number of applications for SAFER, totaling 1,020 applications followed closely by volunteer departments (with 911 applications).
• All-career departments put in 585 applications.
• Firefighter organizations on the state level also went after the grants, with 23 state organizations requesting funding for volunteer recruitment and retention projects.
  

For hiring firefighters, SAFER provides five-year grants with a maximum federal contribution of $100,000, spread over four years. Each year, the federal contribution will decrease and the local matching requirement will increase, tapering to zero federal money in year five. There was no cap on the total grant request this year.

For volunteer recruitment and retention, SAFER provides four-year grants and there is no requirement for matching funds. This year, there is no cap for individual grant requests and the grants are available to volunteer and combination fire departments and to associations that support volunteer firefighters, including state associations.

For more details, see www.firegrantsupport.com, call the AFG Help Desk at 866-274-0960 or e-mail firegrants@dhs.gov.