Reporting the details of emergency responses to the Virginia Fire Incident Reporting System (VFIRS) greatly benefits fire departments and localities. By documenting incidents, fire departments indicate what incidents are being handled by their department and also reflect what is happening in their community. The information is used to support important decisions made at the local, state, and federal levels, and is often a determining factor when awarding grant funding. Therefore, it is critical that fire departments in your locality report to VFIRS. To aid fire departments with their incident reporting, the VFIRS Hardware grant is available to allow funding for computer hardware equipment needed for reporting. The grant period opens July 1st each year. All completed applications must be postmarked no later than August 31st. I encourage your locality to apply for your fire departments, especially if you have departments that are not currently reporting their incidents. Please see the attached VFIRS Hardware grant application. Training and technical assistance will be available for any fire departments that are new to incident reporting. If you have any questions with VFIRS reporting, please call (804) 249-1989. If you have questions related to the grant application process, please contact Theresa Hunter at (804) 249-1958, or Theresa.Hunter@vdfp.virginia.gov .
Thank you.