FEMA will award $36 million in grants to strengthen community resilience through fire prevention programs.
FEMA announced that applications are open for FY 2023 Fire Prevention and Safety (FP&S) grant program, which will award $36 million to strengthen community fire prevention programs and support scientific research on innovations that improve firefighter safety, health, and well-being.
FP&S funds have supported life-saving research and outreach campaigns, while universities and organizations have been able to advance scientific research and study firefighter safety. For example, the University of Arizona is doing a decades-long study involving thousands of firefighters and what work exposures cause cancer in them, and ways to reduce it. Knowing that nearly 60% of fire deaths in the nation occur in homes that have no functioning smoke alarms, the American Red Cross’ Home Fire Campaign made home visits with more than three million people nationwide to provide fire safety education and installed more than two million free smoke alarms. In Crofton, Maryland, the U.S branch of The Institution of Fire Engineers works to reduce fire risk through Vision 20/20, a community risk-reduction program that identifies, prioritizes and addresses risk across fire and emergency services.
The FP&S Program has awarded approximately $852 million since its inception. To help keep communities and firefighters safer, FP&S funding is being made available directly to eligible fire departments, national, regional, state, local, tribal and non-profit organizations such as academic (e.g., universities), research foundations, public safety institutes, public health, occupational health, and injury prevention institutions for fire prevention programs and firefighter health and safety research and development such as clinical studies that address behavioral, social science and cultural research. The application period will close on Friday, April 12, 2024, at 5 p.m. ET.
The FY 2023 FP&S Notice of Funding Opportunity and technical assistance documents for this program are available at www.grants.gov and on the FEMA website. Additional information about upcoming webinars to assist applicants is also available on the FEMA website.
