Let's face it, not all applications submitted to SAFER or any of FEMA's other competitive grant programs can be funded. In fact, according to the most recently published statistics from SAFER, only 1 in 7 applications are funded. If you want to be successful, your application must be a cut above the rest. When it comes to peer review, the single most influential way to distinguish your application is to prepare a superior narrative.
Every narrative should provide a description of your department and the community served. Basic information such as a department's name, location, and types of services provided are often missing. Equally as important is a description of the demographics of the community and response statistics. The narrative should also highlight critical infrastructure protected by your department such as interstates, pipelines, communications facilities, manufacturing facilities, and other community assets that present significant risks to people and property. Ultimately, the purpose of this section is to demonstrate the importance of your department and illustrate the need for funding so that you can adequately protect your community.
As with all competitive FEMA grant programs, departments must demonstrate that they have both a problem and a solution that is aligned with the program's priorities. Therefore, a successful SAFER narrative must describe a staffing problem in the context of NFPA 1710 or 1720 for career or volunteer departments, respectively. Ultimately, this section of the narrative should demonstrate the risk to the community caused by the staffing problem. The better your department understands the root causes of the staffing and response time problems, the more likely you are to create a successful recruitment and/or retention program.
Departments should clearly describe their proposed solutions and how they fit with the overall staffing or recruitment and retention plan. The narrative should also demonstrate how the project will impact staffing. Examples of eligible SAFER projects include:
Successful SAFER grant narratives must demonstrate that the proposed programs will generate significant value relative to the cost. This section must detail all of the benefits that will be achieved either by hiring additional firefighters or by implementing recruitment and retention programs for volunteer firefighters. Be sure to describe the qualitative benefits related to improvements in staffing such as improved response time, reduced property loss, and increased life safety as well as the quantitative benefits such as reduced costs. Consider painting a picture of the cost of failing to implement your proposed solution. This section should also include a justification of why your department cannot fund the proposed initiatives without Federal assistance.
The SAFER program offers fire departments a unique funding source for hiring career firefighters or for implementing innovative volunteer recruitment and retention programs. Although we've identified some of the guiding principles that will help you develop an effective SAFER narrative, we've only begun to scratch the surface. Unlike the Assistance to Firefighter's Grant (AFG) for which high priority projects are cut and dry, the SAFER program allows departments considerably more flexibility and creativity in developing solutions to their staffing problems.
With the SAFER application period set to open in only a few short weeks, now is the time to develop solutions to your staffing issues and begin crafting a narrative consistent with the guiding principles described above.
If you intend to apply for SAFER Funding and are looking for additional guidance, call Firehouse Grants today to see how we can help you build an effective SAFER application!
David Schwartz is the President of Firehouse Grants LLC, a consulting firm that specializes in preparing grant applications for emergency services organizations. David has been a volunteer firefighter since 2001 and currently serves as President of a volunteer fire company in the suburbs of Philadelphia. He has been directly involved in raising over $1.3 million in funding from local, state, and federal grant programs such as AFG and SAFER. The most recently awarded application prepared by David was a SAFER grant from which a consortium of five volunteer fire departments received $834,000. Firehouse Grants' strategy for success is built on a fundamental understanding of emergency services, superior technical writing, and attention to detail. Each of these elements is combined to produce unparalleled grants with an impressive success rate. Recognizing that firefighters are too busy fighting fires to prepare grant applications, the goal of Firehouse Grants is to enable firefighters to focus on serving the community without missing out on valuable funding opportunities.
If you'd like assistance in preparing a SAFER grant for your department or if you have general questions about grant programs please email David at
