Success Stories

Charleroi Fire Department is a 100% volunteer department located in Washington County, PA, outside of Pittsburgh. After working with another grant writer for several years without success, they contacted Firehouse Grants. Since then, they’ve been successful with AFG applications three years in a row, landing awards for 22 sets of SCBA, 29 sets of turnout gear, and 6,300 feet of hose (plus nozzles and appliances). These three awards alone totaled $262,110 in Federal funding.

Voorhees Township Fire Department serves a suburban area in southern New Jersey, outside of Philadelphia. When the Township assumed responsibility of the fire department after the fire district was disbanded in 2017, the newly-formed combination department faced a massive budget deficit and urgently needed to replace old and neglected equipment. With the help of Firehouse Grants, they leveraged their limited funding into a $153,637 AFG award for SCBA, followed by a $1,438,477 SAFER award to hire nine additional career firefighters.

Wingo Volunteer Fire Department serves a rural district covering 175 sq mi in Graves County, Kentucky, in the southwestern part of the state. The department needed to replace expired SCBA, but with a budget almost entirely from donations, there was no way they could afford full replacement on their own. After initial discussions with Firehouse Grants, they were worried about spending their limited budget to hire a grant writer so they decided to apply for an AFG grant on their own in 2017. After receiving a turndown notice, it became obvious that they needed expert assistance. Spending the money to hire Firehouse Grants was clearly a big decision for a small department, but it paid off big time with a $98,590 award to replace 16 sets of SCBA.

In 2017, Firehouse Grants had the opportunity to assist Warrenton Rural Volunteer Fire Department of Warren County, North Carolina in preparing a successful AFG award for $161,334 to replace 28 sets of SCBA. Word of the success and the highly professional experience spread throughout the county. Not surprisingly, when the county firefighter’s association and the county manager identified a need to replace portable and mobile radios, they called the team at Firehouse Grants. Although the scale and scope of a regional application is considerably more complex, Firehouse Grants provided the strategic oversight and online tools to streamline the process of gathering all of the required information. By preparing a unique, comprehensive, and compelling application, Firehouse Grants was able to secure a regional AFG award for all thirteen fire departments in Warren County to purchase new radios, resulting in a $639,000 AFG award.