$275k in federal grants available for Iowa fire departments battling wildfires
(The Center Square) – Wildfires in Iowa have already burned 9% more land in 2021 than in an average whole calendar year, according to state officials.
Iowa Department of Natural Resources Wildland Fire Supervisor Gail Kantak told The Center Square in an emailed statement that 161 wildfires have reportedly burned 6,833 acres, while the average in the past 16 years has been 400 reported wildfires burning 6,300 acres.
Drought conditions haven’t helped.
“We have been experiencing drought conditions in different parts of the state for several years now and the 2019 Derecho left a lot of damage in its wake,” Kantak said. “In the western part of the state there has been low relative humidity and high drought indexes, making the fuels (trees, shrubs, and grasses) more susceptible to any source of ignition. Hot dry weather and high winds add to the complexity and likelihood that small fires will become big ones.”
Rural volunteer fire departments battling wildfires can apply for 50%-50% reimbursement matching grants from the state for related equipment, the Iowa Department of Natural Resources announced Aug. 11. Only communities with less than 10,000 population qualify, and the local funding cannot originate from federal funding, according to the application.
Kantak said the department’s forestry-fire program has “roughly” $275,000 to allocate for the grants through the annual program. Each fire department can receive up to $3,500. The US Forest Service State and Private Forestry branch has provided the funding to the department’s Forestry Fire Program through the Volunteer Fire Assistance (Rural Fire Capacity) funding allocation, Kantak said.
Grant money can be used for wildfire suppression equipment, slide-in units, hoses, nozzles, adapters, portable tanks and pumps, personal protective equipment and communications equipment. Fire departments can also apply for assistance with special needs that can be tied directly to wildfire suppression.
“I try to provide the fire departments with general considerations and guidance in the upper categories, but I wanted to make sure that their needs are being met, so I created this special request section, taking into account the rules of the federal funding for this program,” Kantak said.
She said past requests have included funding for wildland fire boots, portable lighting, head lamps for helmets, large suction hoses for drafting water from rural water sources such as ponds, and improvements in plumbing on quick attack trucks.
“As long as they can show that it is tied to wildland fire suppression and no single item is $5,000 or more, there is justification for it to be considered for funding,” she said.
Fire departments that actively filed wildland fire reports in 2020 and 2021 on their response to wildfires or assist with prescribed or controlled wildfires receive priority in the Volunteer Fire Assistance Grant application scoring process, the news release said. The application also listed acres of state land protected, communities that did not receive funding in the previous funding period, “areas of greatest need” and departments that use wildland personal protective equipment and “have strong wildland fire suppression requests” as priorities.
Applications for the 50%-50% reimbursement grants are due Oct. 15.
Wildfires have burned 3.8 million acres nationwide this year as of Aug. 11, the National Interagency Fire Center reported. California’s Dixie Fire, the second-largest ever recorded in the state, has burned more than 500,000 acres.
Kantak said that the public should help prevent uncontrolled wildfires by practicing fire safety and keeping property fire resistant.
“Wildfires are predominantly caused by people: inadvertently, purposely, or through the use of equipment,” she said. “Our climate takes advantage of those sparks and can spread them into wildfire. We all need to be cautious and be aware of our surroundings and environmental conditions.”
Disclaimer: This content is distributed by The Center Square
