30 Percent AFG Cut Expected for 2010

Fire Apparatus & Emergency Equipment Magazine

Congressional appropriation bills indicate the federal Assistance to Firefighters Grant (AFG) program will be funded at $390 million in 2010, a decrease of about 30 percent from the 2009 level of $565 million.

The reduction is due to a shift in funding from AFG's equipment program to the federal Staffing for Adequate Fire and Emergency Response (SAFER) grant program, which is expected to have its appropriation doubled from $210 million in 2009 to $420 million in 2010.

Both the House and Senate passed homeland security appropriation legislation funding AFG at $390 million and SAFER at $420 million for the 2010 fiscal year. Those bills will be considered by a conference committee, but David Finger, the director of government relations for the National Volunteer Fire Council, said, "As far as I can tell those are going to be the final numbers."

The $390 million appropriation for the 2010 AFG program is disappointing to Finger and other fire service and industry organizations, but it is a substantial increase over the Obama administration's $170 million proposal in its budget this spring.

At its height in 2003 and 2004, the AFG program was funded at $750 million.

Go to www.fireindex.com and click company or products named in story above.