October 5, 2026
The Newport Fire Department received FEMA funding to purchase a Lucas CPR device for each of its three rescues. (Photo by Janine L. Weisman/Rhode Island Current)
Fire departments and other first responder organizations across Rhode Island are getting more than $4.5 million in grants for new equipment, training and emergency response upgrades, federal officials and Rhode Island’s congressional delegation have announced.
Funding comes from the Federal Emergency Management Agency’s (FEMA) Assistance to Firefighters Grant program, which provides funding to fire departments and emergency medical service organizations for equipment, training and other improvements.
“Our firefighters take tremendous risks to serve our communities and we’ve got to have their backs and ensure they have the best equipment, vehicles, and training to safely and effectively do their job,” U.S. Sen. Jack Reed said in a statement.
Providence is getting the largest award, $1.85 million, for firefighter breathing apparatus and training. Rhode Island’s capital has two years to spend the grant once it accepts the award, city spokesperson Carl Austin Miller Grondin wrote in an email to Rhode Island Current.
Nearly $1.5 million will go toward new self-contained breathing apparatus, or “Air-Paks,” with the city expecting to purchase the equipment within the next few months and put it into service in early 2027.
“The remaining funds will support Providence Fire Department officers, including lieutenants, captains and chief officers, to obtain various levels of nationally standardized supervisory training,” Grondin wrote.
Woonsocket will get $1 million for a new aerial ladder truck and Coventry nearly $500,000 for a new ambulance.
West Warwick will get $339,932 for equipment and cardiac monitors. The Prudence Island Volunteer Fire Department will receive $255,015 for new radios, while Lincoln’s two fire departments will get $157,031 for cardiac monitors, radios and a thermal imaging camera. Newport will receive $68,181 for CPR devices, and the Rhode Island Fire Training Academy $370,086 for training equipment.
The grant awards were announced separately over the past two weeks, with FEMA providing details in two releases on Sept. 25 and Oct. 2. Rhode Island’s all-Democratic congressional delegation combined the funding allocations into a single announcement Wednesday, Sept. 30.
Rhode Island’s federal delegation and FEMA have been at odds over federal funding for the state, most recently over FEMA’s rejection of Gov. Dan McKee’s request for disaster assistance following February’s historic blizzard, which caused about $19 million in damage and cleanup costs after the state was buried under more than 3 feet of snow.
Four members of Rhode Island’s congressional delegation on Sept. 9 directed the Department of Homeland Security and FEMA to preserve and provide all records related to the state’s request for a major disaster declaration. Spokespeople from
Asked about the status of the delegations’ request, a FEMA spokesperson wrote in an email Friday to Rhode Island Current that the agency considers factors including the cost of the damage, local impacts, insurance coverage, other federal aid and the state’s ability to pay.
“Major disaster declaration request evaluation factors considered include estimated cost of the assistance, localized impacts, insurance coverage in force, hazard mitigation, recent multiple disasters, programs of other federal assistance, state fiscal capacity and resource availability, uninsured home and personal property losses, disaster-impacted population profile, impact to community infrastructure, casualties, and disaster related unemployment,” the spokesperson said.
FEMA has provided other federal funding to Rhode Island since the delegation’s request, including more than $3.3 million announced Sept. 18 for projects to reduce disaster risks, such as seawall repairs in Barrington and Bristol and flood mitigation work in Providence.
Reed and U.S. Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse introduced the Disaster Relief Fairness Act in July, which would require the federal government to approve disaster aid when a state meets FEMA’s criteria for assistance. U.S. Reps. Gabe Amo and Seth Magaziner introduced the same legislation in the House in September.
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Courtesy of Rhode Island Current
