Volunteer Fire Assistance

50/50 Matching Grant

The Volunteer Fire Assistance Program (formerly called the Rural Community Fire Protection (RCFP) program) is a federally funded matching grant program. VFA is a cooperative program between the USDA Forest Service, State and Private Forestry and the Indiana Department of Natural Resources, Division of Forestry. VFA is a 50\50 matching grant program to assist in organizing, training and equipping rural and volunteer fire departments. Grants are matched on a 50\50 basis up to a maximum of $5,000 ($5,000 grant plus $5,000 department). 

Rural departments and those city departments with a population base of fewer that 10,000 qualify for these grants. Interested departments must complete an application and return it by March 1^st of each year to quality for the next year’s funds. There are certain restrictions that apply to this money.

For specific questions about VFA please contact Crystal Hunt

New – Beginning in October 2005 the federal government is mandating all qualifying departments be compliant with National Incident Management System (NIMS) training. For more information on NIMS training opportunity visit the website at www.fema.gov/nims . The objective of the United States Government is to ensure that all levels of government across the Nation have the capability to work efficiently and effectively together, using a single, comprehensive national approach to domestic incident management.