By Ronnie Moore
Chattanooga Times Free Press

CHATTANOOGA, Tenn. — Grants to bolster fire departments with personnel and equipment are more plentiful in the years since Sept. 11, 2001, but competition for the funds also is more intense, region officials said.

"For years fire departments were a distant second to police in available grants, but that changed substantially after the attack" on the World Trade Center, Walker County, Ga., Fire Chief Randy Camp said.

The federal funds, previously from the Federal Emergency Management Agency but now through the Department of Homeland Security, have provided critical assistance for cash-strapped fire departments in Northwest Georgia and Southeast Tennessee.

"Funding for turnout gear, self-contained breathing apparatus has allowed us to maintain a level of service without seeking added funds from residents at the local level," Mr. Camp said.

Meigs County, Tenn., Emergency Management Agency Director Tony Finnell said, though, once a fire department has been awarded one or two grants, landing more federal money seems to be more difficult.

Meigs County won federal grants in 2004, 2005 and 2007, but not in the past year, he said. The Meigs Fire/Rescue Department operates five stations in the rural county.

Fort Oglethorpe Fire and Rescue Battalion Chief Doug Flury said about 70 units of self-contained breathing apparatus were acquired with a $119,000 grant in 2004. He said the department has sought other grants, too.

"We are required for the SAFER grant to add personnel every year, but the competition is fierce and we seem to get eliminated from consideration toward the end," he said.

The Staffing for Adequate Fire and Emergency Response grants are the fire department equivalent of the earlier Community Oriented Policing Services grants.

Volunteer fire departments in Tracy City, Tenn., and Kimball, Tenn., have received post 9/11 federal grants. Tracy City was awarded a safety grant of $45,914 in 2002 and $143,833 for fire equipment in 2003.

Many regional departments were awarded grants, including in Tennessee: Dayton, $47,000; Cleveland, $51,000; Bradley County Volunteer Fire Department, $213,000; and Athens, $76,900.

Chief Camp said the economy is making it difficult for many smaller fire departments to meet the requirements to win and keep grants.

"It's hard to meet standards of adding a fourth employee per engine for 24-hour coverage when fuel costs to operate our department jumped $30,000 this year," he said.

He said available funding for SAFER grants has been increased to $190 million, but requests total $1.2 billion.

There are other grant opportunities, but agencies have to be innovative.

Fire departments and other emergency service organizations in Georgia's Catoosa, Walker and Dade counties will receive a boost in communications capabilities with a $5.77 million Homeland Security grant awarded in April.

Copyright 2008 Chattanooga Publishing Company