The Fire Prevention and Safety Grant application period is now open. Known as the FP&S, the grant is offered through FEMA for those projects that enhance the safety of the public and firefighters from fire and related hazards. The primary goal is to target high-risk populations, reduce injury and prevent death. In fact, Congress reauthorized funding for FP&S and expanded the eligible uses of funds to include firefighter safety research and development.

To learn more about how best to use the FP&S grant, I recently spoke with Elizabeth Harman, FEMA's assistant administrator of grant programs.

What is the FP&S grant?
The purpose of the grant program is to fund fire prevention and safety activities, firefighter research and development activities. The grant activities are designed to reach high-risk, target groups and mitigate incidents of death and injury caused by fire and fire-related hazards. And the firefighter research and grant activities are aimed at improvements to firefighter health and safety.

What is the application period?
The application period began Jan 3, 2011, and all applications must be completed and submitted online by 5 p.m. EST Feb 4, 2011. If our applicants are submitting paper applications, they need to have it postmarked on or before Feb. 4.

How much money will be allocated to this grant?
There’s a total of $35 million available for funding in this program. Each applicant can request up to $1 million.

What are the grant’s priorities?
There are several key changes to the FP&S grant program and the application. Applicants in the general application and awareness category will receive further additional consideration if the program is part of their comprehensive smoke alarm installation and education program in which they address the needs of the disabled, for example, the deaf. Applicants in this category will be asked to provide information about their organization’s current fire prevention and safety capabilities. The purpose of those questions is so the program office can more efficiently measure the effectiveness of grant funding for fire prevention activities. The questions are not scored and will not have an impact on the application.

Are there specific “needs” that will be given priority over previous years?
That depends on the type of project. Each eligible category in the FP&S area has its own priority. So for example, general education’s priority is comprehensive smoke alarm installation programs. Further additional consideration will be given to applicants who address meeting the needs of the disabled for their community. Another example would be code enforcement and awareness, so first time code adoption and enforcement is a priority. For fire and arson prevention, priority will be given to those who aim to aggressively investigate every fire. And national state regional programs and studies will give priority to projects that focus on residential fire issues and/or fire safety projects or strategies that are designed to measurably change firefighter behavior and decision making.

Really the key to successful applications is not just the priorities. The key is to start with your community’s risk and develop a program that addresses those risks. Be sure to create a plan for implementing and evaluating the project. Those are keys to success.

What are other issues fire chiefs should consider when developing their application?
The biggest key to success and one of the things we are looking at today and the FEMA administrator Craig Fugate is looking at …. when we look at community preparedness we need to look at the needs of each specific community. There are a lot of good programs out there that do a lot of good things, but your community may be different. So it is important that when departments are looking at a specific community that they are addressing their needs and not just tagging on to some national level program that might be good but may not have much of an impact because your community may not actually need that.

What are some missteps to avoid when applying for the grant?
Many applicants spend too much time describing the tool that they want to purchase, rather than developing a comprehensive project that describes their risk, their plan for implementation and evaluation. For example, we receive inquires that start with “I want to apply for a XXX, what do I need to do to get it?” Instead, applicants need to be thinking in terms of how many fires are started, for example, by children and then determine what program they can put into place that will help mitigate that risk.

Another misstep to avoid is not reading the guidance completely. The guidance and application holds all of the answers to writing a successful grant. But occasionally, applicants who only skim the guidance will miss vast amounts of important information throughout the guidance. Also, be sure the project you are proposing is age appropriate. I know that sounds silly, but for example, suggesting children under 14 be trained how to use a fire extinguisher may not necessarily be appropriate.

Also, use local statistics. Many applicants tend to use nationwide statistics when describing their community’s vulnerabilities and in order to write a successful application you need to use as many as local and regional statistics as possible to really show the peer reviewers why your specific community needs this fire-prevention funding.

What are steps to successfully complete the application?
I cannot emphasize enough to read the guidance. As I noted earlier, all the answers to a successful application are in the document, and it really needs to be read from front to back before you even start thinking about the projects or where to start. There’s also a narrative development worksheet on the online application tutorial. That helps them develop their projects and demonstrates the best way of illustrating a community’s needs.

In addition, try to focus on solutions to identifiable problems versus a request to purchase the coolest tool on the market. And finally, have someone else read your application before you submit it. Do they know what you are asking for and why you need it, and if they don’t, the peer reviewers won’t know either.