Department of Agriculture and Forestry, State of Louisiana - Mike Strain DVM, Commissioner

NEWS

LDAF Volunteer Fire Assistance Program Underway

March 18, 2014

The Louisiana Department of Agriculture and Forestry (LDAF) is now accepting applications for the 2014 Volunteer Fire Assistance Program (VFA).
“This program is invaluable to many small and rural volunteer fire departments with limited resources to pay for training and to purchase equipment necessary to prepare and equip fire crews for fire suppression,” Agriculture and Forestry Commissioner Mike Strain, D.V.M., said.
The VFA program is funded through the U.S. Forest Service and administered by the LDAF on a 50/50 cost share basis to qualifying fire departments to be used to organize, train and equip the crews for the prevention and suppression of fires.
Eligibility requirements:

• Any fire department that is based in a community with a population of 10,000 or less (latest census) is eligible to apply for funding under the VFA program.

• Departments serving a population greater than 10,000 are eligible to apply if the department is a “multi-community” department, providing no single community served has a population greater than 10,000. A department or fire district is considered to be “multi-community” if within the official area served there exists two or more recognized communities, each of which must contribute financial support toward, and combine other resources for the operation of a single department serving all of the communities involved.

• A single community fire department serving a population greater than 10,000 and NOT providing protection to a rural community is not eligible for VFA financial assistance.

• Fire departments must be National Incident Management System (NIMS) compliant. NIMS compliance information can be found at http://www.fema.gov/national-incident-management-system

Applications and additional information about the grant is available at www.ldaf.la.gov. The deadline to apply for the grant is July 1, 2014.