Not really a fire sale, but there seems to be a lot of federal money out there for those in the fire services, or for the purposes of this weblog, those studying fire service programs through distance education. I'm not sure exactly if any of our sponsors offer such programs but I'll look. In the meantime, here's an interesting story from Firehouse.com for anyone interested in going into the fire services.

By the end of the 2004 FIRE Act (Assistance to Firefighters Grant Program) grant period, the federal government will have distributed almost $2 billion directly to the fire service. This is an incredible amount of funding for a segment of public safety that has been under-funded, when compared to law enforcement, by 10-to-1 for several decades. This bonanza of money heaped on the American fire service over such a short period has helped bridge the disparity in fire service preparedness to large disasters. When you add other federal grant programs into the mix like Homeland Security (WMD training and exercises), Volunteer Fire Assistance Fund (equipment for wildland firefighting), the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) pre- and post-Hazard Mitigation Grant Program (wildland fires, hurricanes, flooding and earthquakes), National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (EMS training, rescue tools, equipment and vehicles), Technology Opportunity Program grants (distance education, telecommunications and interoperability), to name just a few of the other top federal grant-making organizations, the fire service has an unprecedented number of grant opportunities.