Rural Volunteer Fire Department Assistance Program  

FireConnect is the new home of this program!
Please go there for ongoing program information and grants!

The Texas Rural VFD Assistance Program provides funding to rural VFDs for the acquisition of firefighting vehicles, fire and rescue equipment, protective clothing, dry-hydrants, computer systems and firefighter training. It is a cost-share program funded by the Texas State Legislature.

Since its inception in 2002, the program has been extremely successful in helping fire departments get the vehicles, training, and equipment that they would otherwise not have access to. Due to the usefulness of the program, we are experiencing significant demand in excess of $200 million in outstanding requests, while currently being funded at $16.2 million per year. Therefore, while we would like to fund every request, it unfortunately takes some time to help every department in need.

Grant assistance available for: Recognized, non-profit volunteer fire departments operated by its members; part-paid/part-volunteer fire departments with 20 or fewer paid members. The volunteer fire department must be a recognized fire department, located in and operating within a designated primary protection area as assigned by the county. Primary protection areas cannot overlap. The fire department must be in good standing with the State of Texas and Texas A&M Forest Service.