Press Release  Healey-Driscoll Administration Awards Nearly $90,000 in Funding to Rural and Volunteer Fire Departments Across the State

North Brookfield — The Healey-Driscoll Administration today announced that 40 communities with nonprofit rural, call, or volunteer fire departments have been awarded a total of $89,054 in grant funding through the Volunteer Fire Assistance (VFA) Program. The funding will help with training and fire prevention efforts, as well as purchasing necessary supplies and new equipment that enhance their ability to protect forest resources across Massachusetts. Department of Conservation and Recreation (DCR) Commissioner Brian Arrigo and the agency’s Chief Fire Warden announced the VFA recipients this morning at the North Brookfield Fire Station. 

“The VFA Program grants provide rural fire departments with the training and equipment needed to respond to and suppress fires in forests and parks across our state,” said DCR Commissioner Arrigo. “These grants demonstrate the important partnerships between DCR, the U.S. Forest Service, and municipalities and our commitment to preserving our natural resources and ensuring our outdoor spaces are safe for residents and visitors to enjoy as we experience more and more intense heat from the climate crisis.” 

The VFA grants are designed to assist municipalities with a population of 10,000 or less and are home to community volunteer fire departments responding to wildfires safely and effectively. To be considered for a VFA grant, fire departments must be made up of at least 80 percent call or volunteer firefighters, be a state-recognized fire department, and be National Incident Management System (NIMS) compliant. Communities considered for a VFA grant include high-risk towns adjacent to federal lands, those working in partnership with federal firefighting agencies to respond to wildfires, and those in high-risk areas not associated with federal lands. 

“Local call and volunteer fire departments are critical to the efforts to respond to fire incidents quickly and effectively and to protect residents and stop fires from spreading through forests and open spaces,” said DCR Chief Fire Warden Dave Celino. “I want to commend town chiefs and forest wardens for their invaluable commitment to their communities, and we are proud to support them in this small way.”  

The VFA program is authorized by the Cooperative Forestry Assistance Act of 1978. It is funded by the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Forest Service and administered by DCR on a 50 percent reimbursement basis, with a maximum reimbursement of $2,500 per community.  

Towns that received an award from this year’s program are: 

“Thank you so much to our partners at DCR for their continued support of the needs of our most rural communities,” said Rep. Donald Berthiaume. “With the sometimes-scarce funding available in these smaller towns, this grant will provide critical resources to help our local fire departments in their efforts to control local forest fires.” 

“Our volunteer fire departments are the front line of fighting wildland fires,” said Rep. Aaron Saunders. “I’m tremendously appreciative to Commissioner Arrigo and the Healey Administration for their continued support of our rural volunteer departments with the announced equipment grants. Ensuring our volunteer fire fighters can safely and efficiently knock down wildland fires will continue to be a top priority.” 

To learn more about the Volunteer Fire Assistance Program, please visit DCR’s Bureau of Forest Fire Control and Forestry webpage regarding the program. 

According to the DCR Bureau of Forest Fire Control, there have been 964 wildfires that have burned over 1,590 acres across Massachusetts so far this year. Most of these fires have been kept small due to the quick response efforts of local fire departments; however, there have been four fires with well over 100 hundred acres, four residential homes destroyed, and over 50 other structures destroyed or damaged from wildfires.  

Additionally, DCR recently sent two fire crews to Quebec, Canada, and one to Montana to assist in battling the ongoing wildfires raging across the country and neighboring regions.  The crews from Massachusetts worked with firefighters from other northeast states and other assisting countries on several priority fires in western Quebec to strengthen containment or reach full suppression.  

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