Yesterday, I was sitting in the back of the engine bay at my volunteer firehouse, finishing a report from an automatic alarm that turned into a working high-rise fire.

Thankfully, everything went like clockwork. The operator hit the FDC immediately, my crew had hose flaked in the stairwell ready to go, and the truck company quickly extinguished the fire with a water can.

It looked easy—but it was only because we had spent countless hours pre-planning that building. If we had been trying to figure out the layout for the first time while smoke was pushing, it would have been a disaster.

This got me thinking…

Why do we meticulously pre-plan for fires, but leave grant applications worth hundreds of thousands of dollars—applications that directly impact firefighter safety and operational capabilities—to the very last minute?

Every year, the moment FEMA releases the NOFOs for AFG, SAFER, and FP&S, our phones at Firehouse Grants light up like a 911 console for an obvious working fire. By then, the clock is already working against many departments.

This past cycle, we had to turn away dozens of departments because there simply wasn’t enough time left to build a competitive application. Even worse, many departments missed out completely because of preventable paperwork roadblocks like expired SAM.gov registrations or locked FEMA GO accounts.

If you want to see your department’s name on the award list, we need to treat grant readiness the same way we treat operational readiness.

Use the time now to identify your project, lock in regional partners, gather your call volumes and equipment specifications, obtain vendor quotes, and verify your registrations.

If we lay the groundwork today, our team can develop strong narratives and have everything ready to go the moment the application portal opens.

Don’t wait for the tones to drop.

Let’s start planning your success today.

David Schwartz – President
Bay Door Companies

Office: 215-896-8174
Direct: 267-447-9375

BayDoorCompanies.com

Firehouse Grants & Firehouse Consulting
Divisions of Bay Door Companies