Fire Management Assistance Grant

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Available to state, local and tribal governments, FEMA's Fire Management Assistance Grant (FMAG) is federal financial assistance for the mitigation, management and control of fires on publicly or privately owned grasslands or forests. FMAG's are requested through the California Emergency Management Agency (Cal EMA) by a local or state fire agency.

Once a year, Cal EMA meets with chiefs from their operational regions.  One topic discussed at these meetings is how they can help local jurisdictions apply for federal grants. "We have been told by Washington that we have the model program and they would like to have other states copy what we do," explained Deputy Chief of Administration in the Fire and Rescue Division of Cal EMA, Bob Wyman. "We've never had an FMAG disapproved," Wyman added.

While the fire is burning uncontrolled, a request for an FMAG is sent to Cal EMA, who submits a request to FEMA by telephone.  "It's real difficult at that point because fire agencies are going at mach three, command centers are going at mach three, but somebody needs to have the responsibility of submitting that document. Because once it's submitted, the process is started," explained Wyman.

There are four criteria that FEMA uses to evaluate the threat posed by a fire or fire complex:
•    Threat to lives and improved property, including threats to critical facilities/infrastructure, and critical watershed areas
•    Availability of State and local firefighting resources
•    High fire danger conditions, as indicated by nationally accepted indexes such as the National Fire Danger Ratings System
•    Potential major economic impact

"We're looking at number of structures, size of the community, infrastructure threatened. Resources committed, how much locally, operationally, regionally, and then whether we're moving resources region to region," remarked Wyman.

If approved, the FMAG will reimburse 75% of eligible costs for fighting the fire. According to Wyman, if the Governor proclaims a declaration, another 18 ¾% is picked up, therefore leaving the local agency responsible for only 6% of the cost.

All activities performed must be the legal responsibility of the applying entity, required as a result of the fire and located within the designated fire area.

Eligible essential assistance includes:
•    Sheltering and evacuations   
•    Animal evacuations if safety issue   
•    Police barricading and traffic control   
•    Public information dissemination   
•    Search and rescue   
•    Arson investigation teams   
•    Extraordinary EOC costs   
•    Limited removal of precarious trees

Eligible costs incurred outside the incident period include:
•    Mobilization and demobilization   
•    Temporary repair of damage caused by eligible firefighting activities (work must be completed within 30 days of the close of the incident period)   
•    Eligible for reimbursement under FMAG when conditions warrant invoking the California Fire Assistance Agreement (CFAA)   
•    Reimbursed in accordance with CFAA policies and procedures

With tight budgets, local fire chiefs learned more about what criteria is required to help them receive federal grants, even if they have received grants in the past. All states can apply for the grants, however, they do not have a consolidated effort as the state of California does, according to Wyman. Kim Zagaris, State Fire and Rescue Chief of the Fire and Rescue Division of Cal EMA stated, "We can probably take one of two of our fires and we've probably had more reimbursements than the whole rest of the country did." Due to the process they have developed, California's program has been, and will continue to be very successful in receiving a large percentage of the FMAG funding available.

For more information on FEMA's Fire Management Assistance Grant Program visit http://www.fema.gov/government/grant/fmagp/index.shtm .

Contributors to this story:
Barbara Brooks - Video Story
Ann Zevely - Camera/Editing
Renee Marquart - Text Story



Author:Barbara Brooks - FDNNTV.com