Volunteer Fire Assistance Program
HISTORY: The Volunteer Fire Assistance program (VFA) is a 50-50% matching federally funded grant program designed to provide funds to qualifying fire departments to be used to organize, train, and equip the department for the prevention and suppression of fires. The VFA program was originally authorized in Title IV of Public Law 92-419, “The Rural Development Act of 1972.” The act has been amended; the VFA Program is now contained in Section 10(b)3 of the Cooperative Forestry Assistance Act.
VFA funds are dispersed through the United States Forest Service to participating state agencies. The Louisiana Department of Agriculture and Forestry, Office of Forestry, is responsible for the promotion, application review and the dispersal of VFA funding within the state. VFA funding must be matched on a 50-50 basis by nonfederal dollars. The community share of the financial assistance can be in the form of cash or “in-kind” contributions, such as volunteer labor for projects or services.
ELIGIBILITY REQUIREMENTS: For a complete listing of eligibility requirements, please check the VFA Desk Guide.
1. Any fire department that is based in a community, with a population of 10,000 or less (latest Census), is eligible to apply for funding under the VFA program.
2. Departments that serve a population greater than 10,000 are eligible to apply if the department is a "multi-community" department providing a rural area or community served has a population less than 10,000. A department or fire district is considered to be “multi-community” if within the official area served there exists two or more recognized communities, each of which must contribute financial support toward, and combine other resources for the operation of a single department serving all of the communities involved.
3. A single community fire department serving a population greater than 10,000 and NOT providing protection to a rural community is not eligible for VFA financial assistance.
4. Fire Departments must be National Incident Management System (NIMS) compliant. NIMS compliance information can be found at NIMS.
OTHER INFORMATION:
1. Preference will be given to VFA Grant applications for the purchase of wildland and structural personal protective gear, water handling equipment, communication equipment, and training.
2. The purchase of vehicles and high value equipment will NOT be funded due to the limited amount of funds available. Vehicles may be available through the Federal Excess Personal Property program (FEPP).
3. Purchases made before the date of the VFA application are NOT eligible for reimbursement.
Contact the forestry officials listed below for applications and/or assistance with completing the application.
Forms:
VFA Grant Application GUIDELINES (PDF, 89 KB)
VFA Grant Application STATE FORM (PDF, 73 KB)
SF-424B Assurances FEDERAL FORM (PDF, 756 KB)
AD-1047 Certification Regarding Debarment FEDERAL FORM (PDF, 750 KB)
W-9 Form (PDF, 643 KB)
Legislative Budget COMPLIANCE FORM (PDF, 254 KB)
VFA Disbursement REPORT 2009 (PDF, 30 KB)
ONLY COMPLETED APPLICATIONS WILL BE ACCEPTED FOR REVIEW APPROVAL.
APPLICATIONS MUST BE RECEIVED BY LDAF BY THE SPECIFIED DATE FOR PARTICIPATION.
ALL APPLICATIONS ARE SCORED BY A SET GRADING SYSTEM. DEPARTMENTS WITH THE HIGHEST “GRADE” WILL BE FUNDED FIRST, PROCEEDING DOWNWARD TILL FUNDS ARE EXHAUSTED.
DEPARTMENTS MAY PARTICIPATE MULTIPLE TIMES IN THE GRANT PROCESS THROUGHOUT THE YEAR.