Elizabeth Harman is FEMA’s assistant administrator of grant programs, overseeing more than 50 different disaster and non-disaster grant and financial assistance programs equaling approximately $4 billion in non-disaster grant funding annually.

In this interview, Harman discussed FEMA grant opportunities available to the fire service and related emergency medical organizations. She also revealed mistakes applicants make during the grant writing process and discussed the importance of developing strong business plans based on a department’s critical needs.

What is the total amount of grant funding available?

Through all of the FEMA grants, we have $4 billion. Specific to the fire service — unfortunately we do not have an appropriation for FY 11 yet. However, the president’s budget that was proposed this year includes $305 million for SAFER and $305 million for AFG and Fire Prevention and Safety. That is a total of $610 million that the president has submitted for this year.

Which FEMA grants are available to the fire service and EMS companies?

First, for firefighters we have our AFG grant. The primary goal of that is to meet firefighting and emergency response needs of fire departments, as well as non-affiliated, emergency medical organizations. This program has been around since 2001. It has really helped firefighters, and other first responders, obtain critically needed equipment, protective gear, emergency vehicles and other resources to protect the public and other emergency personnel from fire and other related hazards.

The second program is the Fire Prevention and Safety Grants. It is part of the AFG program and is used to support programs to protect public and firefighters from fire-related hazards. The primary goal is to target high-risk populations and reduce injury and prevent death. In 2005, Congress reauthorized funding for this program, and they also expanded the eligible use of the funds to include firefighter safety research and development, which is a really big step.

A third program is the SAFER grant. Many people may be familiar with the grant. SAFER was created to provide funding directly to firefighters as well as volunteer and other organizations to help increase the number of trained frontline firefighters available in their communities. The goal is to enhance the fire departments to comply with staffing, response, operational standards and specific standards such as NFPA 1710, 1720 as well as OSHA regulations 1910-134, which is the respiratory standard.

With these grants, we have 20,000 plus applicants a year. Unfortunately, with the amount of funding available, we are only able to provide roughly 25% or 5,000 awards. So as you can imagine, there is a great need out there. I do want to encourage all firefighters to realize that we have $4 billion in grants at FEMA, and there is a variety of other preparedness grant programs that go directly to state organizations, such as state homeland security grant programs, the urban area security initiatives program — all sorts are listed on our Web site. So although that funding does not go direct to fire departments, there are other avenues where the fire departments can build the relationships with their state administrative agencies and may be able to leverage some of that funding as well.

Most of our country’s fire service consists of volunteer departments. How can they specifically apply for these grants?

Volunteers can apply for these grants just like anyone else that’s out there — fire departments and non-affiliated EMS organization in any of the 50 states, including D.C., the commonwealth of the Northern Marine Islands, the U.S. Virgin Islands, Guam and Puerto Rico — they are all eligible for funding. Funding can be used for firefighter training, equipment, personal protective equipment, wellness, even modification to fire stations and facilities. They can purchase vehicles. For EMS, we have EMS training that can be funded, EMS equipment, also PPE and modification to their systems, stations or vehicles.

The grant eligibility is for all fire departments, national, regional, state, local, Native American and tribal as well as community organizations recognized by their experience and expertise in fire prevention and safety programs. Both private and public non-profit organizations are eligible to apply for these grants. However, for-profit organizations are not eligible for the Fire Prevention and Safety grant awards.

Many volunteer departments don’t believe they can use SAFER grants. Can you explain how they specifically can use them for recruitment, retention and education?

Both the volunteer and combination fire departments are eligible to apply for SAFER. They would look at hiring a firefighter and the recruitment and retention of firefighter categories. They can apply for both but must complete two applications, one for each category. Really, the SAFER applications are underused by the volunteers, and this is really an opportunity to request funding to recruit new members and retain existing volunteers. There are all sorts of things you can apply for. Be creative. Think about what would entice your community to come in and volunteer.

Beginning with the planning process, what do chiefs need to consider first before starting the grant process?

When you are applying, really do an assessment of your department and your community. Think about the things you really need. One of the reasons I say that is I hear from so many fire departments … and I hear a lot more from the folks who are not successful in receiving a reward. This is a highly competitive program, so you are competing with your brother and sister firefighters out there. So it’s important to think about what you are applying for and really make sure it is what you need versus what would be nice to have, because it is competitive. So you really want to do a needs’ assessment of the department and of the community, and then target your applications to your basic needs as well as the funding priorities that are listed in the grant program guidance.

Look at your local statistics with regards to background information. That is really important when you are applying to provide accurate call volume data and other data. It all gets checked.

Make sure your draft narrative is strong. When you are planning to apply for a grant, write the draft narrative and have someone else who is not in the fire service proof read it. Have them go through the application kits, which clearly say what you should be putting in your narrative and in your application. Having that neutral set of eyes … is going to help.

What mistakes have you seen in grant applications?

Folks don’t stick to the funding priorities in the grant guidance. Each year, the criteria development team gets together — all of your big fire organizations — and sit around the table to determine what the priorities are going to be for the next year. It is then reflected in our grant guidance that comes out of our office. So we hear from the stakeholders and we hear what the needs are. So folks applying for anything but the priority, of course, are not going to rate that high.

Again, I mention there are a lot of nice things to want but request priorities. Adding on to the wish list afterwards will make your application very lengthy and reviewers will look at that. If you leave everything else off, it’s a much cleaner application. Additionally, make sure all of the information is complete. Sometimes there may be missing information, even misspellings on e-mail addresses. In addition, make sure you read the directions and have a third person review the application.

How can fire and EMS chiefs win federal grants?

Use the resources [available]. The AFG program is loved. It is very popular, and I think FEMA and the DHS has done a great job of providing the resources. There are technical resources available online at www.firegrantsupport.com.

It is important to read the program guidance. It may vary year to year, though we are trying our best to make it easy to read and is not complicated. We have online tutorials and videos. We also have a call center, 866-274-0960, where you can get your questions answered. We also from time to time will have workshops. [Sic] Attend those workshops and talk to those folks who have been successful and have not been successful. It also is important to stick to the priorities in the grant guidance. If you stray from that, you risk the success of the entire application.