Federal Fire Grants Fail

Conn Carroll / September 23, 2009

What is the proper role of the federal government in public safety? Are Congress and the Department of Homeland Security helping or hurting when they take millions of tax dollars from Americans and then redistribute them as they see fit? Both the latest research and practical experience say no.

From FY 2001 to FY 2009, Congress appropriated over $5.7 billion in funding for “fire grants” through the Assistance for Firefighter Grant (AFG) Program, Fire Prevention and Safety (FP&S) grants, and the Staffing for Adequate Fire and Emergency Response (SAFER) programs. The Heritage Foundation’s Center for Data Analysis (CDA) collected data from 1999 to 2006 on 10,033 fire departments and using regression analysis estimated the impact of fire grants on fire casualties. Of these fire departments, 5,859 (58.4%) received fire grant awards while 4,174 (41.6%) did not. Heritage fellow David Muhlhausen found, that fire grants including grants that subsidize the salaries of firefighters, had no impact on fire casualties: (more…)