In the summer of 2004, Region 3 of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service will again award grants under the Rural Fire Assistance (RFA) assistance program. RFA is a federal assistance law enacted to help rural volunteer fire departments improve their wildland firefighting capabilities. Region 3 will concentrate its allocation of RFA funding on financial assistance to rural fire departments serving the communities near National Wildlife Refuges and federal Waterfowl Production Areas within the states of Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Michigan, Minnesota, Missouri, Ohio and Wisconsin.

In 2004, Region 3 has been allocated almost $240,000 for this purpose. Fire departments meeting the RFA eligibility requirements may receive awards of up to $20,000 in federal funds for acquisition of wildland firefighting equipment, supplies and training. See the “Instructions” link below for eligibility details. The RFA program requires a grantee fire department to contribute at least 10% of the combined federal and fire department total. The 10% contribution may be made in non-federal cash or the fair market value of in-kind services or a combination of cash and in-kind services.

The following forms and instructions are available for download:

Rural Fire Assistance background and instructions

Application for Federal Assistance SF-424 (120k pdf format)

Budget Information for Nonconstruction Programs SF-424A (216k pdf format)

Statement of Assurances for Nonconstruction Programs SF-424B (52k pdf format)

Sample Fire Department Application Letter in Microsoft Word Format (22k document) or Adobe Acrobat format (52k pdf format)

Sample Cooperative Fire Protection Agreement (20k pdf format)

Sample of Region 3 RFA grant terms (20k pdf format)

General Provisions For Assistance Attachment A (8k pdf format)

Certification Regarding Proposal Submission Attachment B (12k pdf format)

Fire Fighter Equipment Vendor List (12k pdf format)

Fire Fighter Equipment Vendor Price Comparison (12k pdf format)

Rural Fire Assistance Grant Report Information (7k pdf format)

Rural Fire Assistance Grant Report (8k pdf format)

Sample RFA report (Coming soon)

Fire Management Plans and Environmental Assessments for Fire Management Plans available for download include:

None Currently Available

For more information concerning the Rural Fire Assistance Program in Region 3, contact Anna Reiber at 612-713-5464 or Ken Kaseforth at 612-713-5219.

USFWS Home Page   Region 3 Home Page

Region 3, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service
1 Federal Drive
BHW Federal Building
Fort Snelling, MN 55111
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