Fiscal Year 2025 Assistance to Firefighters Grant (AFG) Program
General information
The AFG Program aims to deliver essential resources to equip and train emergency personnel to meet recognized standards. It provides funding to outfit responders with compliant personal protective equipment to enhance their safety during incident response, retrofit or modify facilities to address known health hazards, and acquire emergency response vehicles. Additionally, the program supports the development of health, wellness, and resiliency initiatives to prepare responders for incidents, improve operational efficiency, promote interoperability, and strengthen community resilience.
Allowable Project Types
• Operations and Safety;
• Vehicle Acquisition; and
• Regional Projects.
Funding details
Funding application timeline
Grant eligibility
The following entities or entity types located in the 50 United States, District of Columbia, the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands, the U.S. Virgin Islands, Guam, American Samoa, the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, or any federally recognized tribal government or organization are eligible to apply.
- Fire Departments: Fire departments operating in any of the 50 states, as well as fire departments in the District of Columbia, the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands, the U.S. Virgin Islands, Guam, American Samoa, the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico,2 three or any federally recognized Indian tribe or tribal organization. A fire department is an agency or organization having a formally recognized arrangement with a state, local, tribal or territorial authority (city, county, parish, fire district, township, town or other governing body) to provide fire suppression to a population within a geographically fixed primary first due response area.
- Nonaffiliated EMS organizations: Nonaffiliated EMS organizations operating in any of the 50 states, as well as the District of Columbia, the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands, the U.S. Virgin Islands, Guam, American Samoa, the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico,2 three or any federally recognized tribal organization. A nonaffiliated EMS organization is an agency or organization that is a public or private nonprofit emergency medical service entity providing medical transport that is not affiliated with a hospital and does not serve a geographic area in which emergency medical services are adequately provided by a fire department. FEMA considers the following as hospitals under the AFG Program:
- Clinics;
- Medical centers;
- Medical colleges or universities;
- Infirmaries; • Surgery centers; and
- Any other institution, association, or foundation providing medical, surgical or psychiatric care and/or treatment for the sick or injured. State Fire Training Academies: A SFTA operates in any of the 50 states, as well as the District of Columbia, the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands, the U.S. Virgin Islands, Guam, American Samoa, and the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico. Applicants must be designated either by legislation or by a governor’s declaration as the sole fire service training agency within a state, territory, or the District of Columbia and recognized by the National Fire Academy. The designated SFTA shall be the only agency, bureau, division or entity within that state, territory, or the District of Columbia, to be an eligible SFTA applicant under the AFG Program.
Non-federal airport and/or port authority fire or EMS organizations are eligible only if they have a formally recognized arrangement with the local jurisdiction to provide fire suppression or emergency medical services on a first-due basis outside the confines of the airport or port facilities. Airport or port authority fire and EMS organizations whose sole responsibility is suppression of fires or EMS response on the airport grounds or port facilities are not eligible for funding under the AFG Program.