Since 2020, the MFA Incorporated Charitable Foundation has teamed with University of Missouri Extension’s Fire and Rescue Training Institute to award MFA Volunteer Fire Grants to train and equip rural fire departments throughout the state.

MU FRTI, which provides comprehensive continuing professional education training to Missouri’s fire service and emergency response personnel, administers the grant program on behalf of MFA Incorporated.

MFA recently pledged to support MFA Foundation Fire Grants for another five years, notes Rachel Augustine, MU Extension senior director of advancement.

This year, the program has awarded 28 grants totaling $50,000. Since the program’s inception, Missouri fire departments have received $236,000 in grants.

Chief Javi Gil of the Rutledge Community Fire Department notes that grants can be a vital lifeline for small rural fire departments, which are often not tax-supported and have to rely on fire dues, fundraisers and donations of money and equipment. “Although our town is small, we respond to many calls each year,” Gil said. Through mutual aid agreements, his department also responds to calls when needed in neighboring communities in Scotland County and in the 3,974-acre Indian Hills Conservation Area. “We run our department with a very small budget that is used to pay for insurance, repairs and small upgrades to our equipment.” A 2023 MFA Volunteer Fire Grant for $2,000 enabled the department to purchase radios and some well-needed tools, he said.

The Fredericktown Fire Department purchased three thermal imaging cameras, which are used in search and rescue operations to find hidden hot spots in walls or debris piles and to allow firefighters to see their way out of hazardous environments.

Sedgewickville Fire Protection District replaced old ladders. “The ladders we have, we don’t even know the age of them. They have been with the department for years,” said Dana Craft, assistant chief of the Sedgewickville Fire Protection District. The department purchased two attic ladders, two roof ladders and two extension ladders.

The Wheaton Fire Protection District used grant funding to purchase 13 sections of fire hose and hard suction hose, one tower light and two battery packs.

The Sac-Osage Fire Protection District in Osceola purchased laundry equipment for washing firefighter gear. Volunteers no longer have to take gear home to wash it, potentially bringing carcinogens and other hazardous materials into their homes. The facility is available to volunteers from every fire department in St. Clair County.

MFA Volunteer Fire Grants, which range from $500 to $2,000, are awarded to help train and equip Missouri fire departments for the purpose of saving lives and protecting property.  Grants are distributed within Missouri’s nine fire mutual aid regions, with the intention to award at least one per region. Eligible fire departments must be currently registered with the Office of the State Fire Marshall.

MFA Volunteer Fire Grant winners included the Fairfax Fire Protection District.