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, according to an early number posted by the Department of Homeland Security in July. That is about 17 times the $65 million available in 2005.

The overwhelming majority of the grant applications asked for funding to hire firefighters, about $835 million, versus $158 million for a combination of hiring and recruitment and retention projects, and $147 million for only recruitment and retention.

The average federal share of the applications for hiring firefighters was more than $500,000.

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.

Grant requests for help with volunteer recruitment and retention averaged nearly $147,000.

For volunteer recruitment and retention, SAFER provides four-year grants with 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.

Combination fire departments with more volunteers than career personnel submitted the largest number of applications for SAFER, 1,020. That was followed closely by volunteer departments with 911 applications. All-career departments put in 585 applications.

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