Fire Management Assistance Grants (FMAGs)

The Fire Management Assistance Grant (FMAG) program provides federal financial assistance to states, local and tribal governments, for the mitigation, management, and control of fires on publicly or privately owned forests or grasslands. FMAGs are requested by TDEM. Requests are submitted electronically while the fire is burning uncontrolled, and threatens such destruction as would constitute a major disaster. The entire process is accomplished on an expedited basis and a FEMA decision is rendered in a matter of hours.  The grant is based on a 75% (federal) and 25% (state and local) match.

Visit FEMA’s Disaster Search Results page for a list of FMAGs and other declarations.

If you have any questions regarding FMAGs, please contact the TDEM Recovery Section at (512) 424-2431.

Agencies should report the response and cost for all fires throughout a calendar year to the Texas Forest Service (TFS). This information is used to calculate the individual and cumulative threshold. Reporting is done through the TFS Web site.

If you have problems or questions reporting, contact the help desk number at (979) 458-7306. You can also click ‘contact us’ at the bottom of that webpage.

Eligible Costs

• Equipment and supplies (less insurance)
• Emergency work
• State Operations Center
• Prepositioning federal and out-of-state resources up to 21 days
• Personal comfort and safety items for firefighters
• Field camps and meals in lieu of per diem
• Mobilization and demobilization
• Temporary repair of damage caused by firefighting activities
• Evacuation and sheltering
• Mitigation, management and control of declared fires burning on co-mingled Federal land

Ineligible Costs

• Costs not directly associated with the incident period
• Costs incurred in the mitigation/management/control of undeclared fires
• Costs for the straight or regular time salaries and benefits of permanently employed or reassigned personnel of a subgrantee
• Costs related to planning, pre-suppression, recovery, and mitigation of possible future damage related to the burn area of the declared fire
• Costs for cutting fire-breaks without the presence of an imminent threat
• Costs for land rehabilitation such as seeding, planting operations, and erosion control
• Costs for restoration of facilities damaged by fires
• Costs for mitigation, management, and control of a declared fire on co-mingled Federal land when such costs are reimbursable to the State by a Federal agency under another statute (44 CFR Part 151)

Documentation     
All agencies need to maintain documentation of their response to the fire that will aid in justifying costs. Documentation examples are:

• Mutual Aid Agreements
• Time Sheets
• Invoices
• Proof of payment
• Contract
• Dispatch sheets
• Labor documentation showing individual name, date, hours per day
• Equipment logs showing operator, date, hours per day
• Insurance claims/settlements for equipment damage
• Equipment description or FEMA code
• Statements of damage/loss of equipment related to firefighting activities