Glossary
VFD funding glossary
Plain-English definitions of the acronyms every volunteer fire department runs into.
- AFG
- Assistance to Firefighters Grant — FEMA's largest fire-department grant, for gear (SCBA, PPE), training, equipment, wellness, facility retrofits, and vehicles. Rural departments pay a 5% cash match.
- The portion of a project you must pay. AFG's is 5% for departments serving 20,000 or fewer — and it must be cash; in-kind contributions don't count.
- FEMA GO
- The online portal (go.fema.gov) where you apply for AFG, SAFER, and FP&S. You need a FEMA GO account plus SAM.gov registration to apply.
- FEPP / FFP
- Federal Excess Personal Property (loaned) and Firefighter Property Program (ownership transfers) — surplus military trucks, tools, and gear moved to departments through your state forestry coordinator.
- FP&S
- Fire Prevention & Safety — the smallest FEMA fire grant, funding community risk-reduction (smoke alarms, education) and firefighter-safety research. Funds prevention, not gear or trucks.
- Maintenance of Effort (MOE)
- An AFG rule requiring you to keep your own spending at least 80% of your prior two-year average. The application asks for three years of budget data to check it.
- Micro Grant
- An AFG option (up to $75,000 cumulative federal funding) for high-priority safety items — the lane built for smaller departments with a focused need.
- NERIS
- National Emergency Response Information System — the free, cloud-based incident-reporting system that replaced NFIRS in 2026. Onboarding is a condition of AFG awards and powers your need narrative.
- NFIRS
- National Fire Incident Reporting System — the old reporting system, retired and taken offline in February 2026. Any guidance telling you to use it is out of date; use NERIS.
- SAFER
- Staffing for Adequate Fire and Emergency Response — FEMA grant for hiring firefighters and, for volunteers, recruitment and retention. FY25 had no cost-share requirement.
- SAM.gov / UEI
- The free federal registration and Unique Entity Identifier required for any federal grant. SAM must be renewed every year — a lapse blocks your application.
- USDA Community Facilities
- A USDA Rural Development program that funds fire trucks, stations, and equipment year-round — mostly a low-interest loan, with a partial grant (up to 75%) for the smallest, lowest-income towns.
- VFA / VFC
- Volunteer Fire Assistance / Volunteer Fire Capacity — federal wildland-gear money passed through your state forestry agency. Names vary by state; typically a 50/50 reimbursement match for departments serving 10,000 or fewer.
Fire grants come with their own alphabet soup. Here’s the plain-English version of the terms that decide what you can get.
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