Wildfire Smoke Preparedness Grant: $13.5M for Community Buildings

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is offering $13.58 million in grants to help communities protect public buildings from wildfire smoke. The Wildfire Smoke Preparedness in Community Buildings grant program funds projects that reduce indoor exposure to wildfire smoke pollutants in schools, community centers, shelters, and other public facilities.

With wildfire smoke events becoming more frequent and severe across the country, this grant provides critical funding for states, local educational agencies, tribes, and nonprofits to upgrade HVAC systems, deploy air cleaners, establish cleaner air shelters, and develop smoke readiness plans for their communities.

Who Can Apply?

The following types of organizations are eligible to apply for the Wildfire Smoke Preparedness grant:

• States (including the District of Columbia, U.S. territories, and possessions)
• Federally recognized Tribes
• Public pre-schools (any agency, organization, or institution under the administrative supervision or control of a government that provides education from a child's birth to the time at which the State provides elementary education)
• Local educational agencies (as defined in 20 U.S.C. § 7801(30))
• Public and private non-profit organizations

While cities and counties are not directly eligible as applicants, local governments can partner with eligible entities such as state agencies, school districts, or nonprofits to benefit from this funding. State agencies applying on behalf of multiple communities is a common approach.

What Activities Does the Grant Fund?

The EPA is requesting applications for research, demonstrations, technical assistance, training, education, and outreach projects that improve public health protection against wildfire smoke. All projects must target public buildings or buildings that serve the public, not private residences.

Eligible Activities

Specific activities that the grant can fund include:

• Smoke Readiness Planning - Developing specific plans, procedures, and decision-making frameworks at the building or community level to be implemented before and during wildfire smoke events
• Outreach and Training - Adapting wildfire smoke preparedness materials, or conducting targeted outreach to communities through community organizations and institutions
• Technical Training - Training on the effectiveness and implementation of ventilation and filtration strategies for wildfire smoke mitigation in different types of buildings with various HVAC systems
• Portable Air Cleaner Deployment - Purchasing, providing, and/or loaning portable air cleaners or do-it-yourself (DIY) air cleaners for use in community buildings
• Air Quality Monitoring - Indoor and outdoor air quality monitoring to inform and evaluate the effectiveness of wildfire smoke mitigation activities
• Cleaner Air Spaces - Identifying and preparing community cleaner air spaces or cleaner air shelters where residents can go during smoke events
• Building Improvements - Significant upgrades and repairs to HVAC units or systems and weatherization, including training and planning to ensure improvements are properly maintained and operated

What's NOT Eligible

The EPA will not consider applications that include the following activities:

• Permanent improvements to private residences, such as installing HVAC equipment in homes (note: temporary improvements like loaning portable air cleaners to private residences ARE eligible)
• Use of unproven air cleaning technologies such as bipolar ionization, ozone generators, ionizing air cleaners, and oxidizing air cleaners (DIY air cleaners ARE eligible)
• Projects exclusively designed to conduct scientific research (projects may include research components as building blocks for demonstration, training, or outreach)

Cost Sharing Requirements

This grant requires a 10% cost share based on the total project cost. For example, if you're requesting $1,000,000 in EPA funding and not requesting a waiver, you must propose a cost share of at least $111,111, making the total project cost $1,111,111.

Applicants are not authorized to use other sources of federal funding to meet their cost share requirements.

Cost Share Waiver for Economically Distressed Communities

The cost sharing requirement may be waived for facilities located in economically distressed communities. To qualify for a waiver, at least one area served by the facility must meet one or more of these criteria:

• An unemployment rate at least one percentage point greater than the national average for the most recent 24-month period
• Per capita income that is 80% or less of the national average per capita income
• A percentage of population 25 and over with a high school diploma (or equivalent) below the national average

Applicants must provide third-party data (such as Census Bureau, BLS, or other federal sources) that clearly demonstrates the community meets these criteria. An economically distressed community may be a county, region, municipality, or smaller area within a larger community.

Program Priorities and Focus Areas

Multi-Hazard Approach

The EPA encourages applicants to describe how the project addresses multiple hazards that may be concurrent with wildfire smoke, including:

• Extreme heat
• Power outages
• Airborne infectious disease transmission

Projects that improve overall capacity to comprehensively address indoor air quality issues will score higher in the evaluation.

Community Engagement

Applicants should describe how the project addresses engagement with communities and populations affected by wildfire smoke, especially local residents. Meaningful participation means people have an opportunity to participate in decisions about activities that may affect their environment and/or health, and community concerns will be considered in the decision-making process.

Sustainability

The EPA values projects that demonstrate the applicant's ability to effectively promote and continue or replicate efforts after EPA funding for the project has ended.

How Applications Are Scored

Applications are evaluated on a 100-point scale across four main sections:

Section I: Project Summary and Approach (55 points)

• Overall Project (25 points) - The proposed project plan and activities
• Wildfire Smoke Impacts (5 points) - How much or how often buildings/communities served are impacted by wildfire smoke
• Population Served and Community Engagement (10 points) - Community engagement and meaningful participation of local residents
• Approach to Measure Project Effectiveness (5 points) - Detailed approach to measure project effectiveness
• Multi-hazard Approach and Sustainability (10 points) - Addressing multiple concurrent hazards and post-project sustainability

Section II: Environmental Results (15 points)

• Expected Outputs and Outcomes (5 points)
• Performance Measures (5 points)
• Timeline (5 points) - Detailed milestones for tasks like bidding, procurement, installation, and reports

Section III: Programmatic Capability and Past Performance (15 points)

• Past Performance (3 points) - Up to three relevant assistance agreements from the last three years
• Reporting Requirements (3 points)
• Organizational Experience (4 points)
• Staff Expertise (5 points)

Section IV: Budget (15 points)

• Budget Detail (5 points) - Detailed breakout by funding type in proper budget categories
• Reasonableness of Costs (5 points)
• Timely Expenditure of Grant Funds (5 points)

Expected Outputs and Outcomes

The EPA expects grant recipients to produce measurable outputs, including:

• Number of communities with an established Smoke Readiness Plan
• Number of wildfire smoke preparedness materials adapted
• Number of building owners, managers, or technicians trained
• Number of technical training events conducted
• Number of buildings that received portable air cleaners
• Number of buildings served by an indoor and outdoor air monitoring network
• Number of community cleaner air spaces available for wildfire smoke events
• Number of buildings upgraded or repaired to improve wildfire smoke mitigation

The anticipated outcomes include increased capacity to implement a coordinated response to wildfire smoke events, reduced building occupant exposure to wildfire smoke, and improved wildfire smoke management using air monitoring data.

Application Requirements

Key Dates

• NOFO Published: January 30, 2026
• Information Session: February 25, 2026
• Final Date to Submit Questions: April 8, 2026
• Application Deadline: April 15, 2026, 11:59 PM ET
• Anticipated Selection Notification: July 2026
• Anticipated Award Notification: September 2026

Mandatory Documents

Applications must be submitted through Grants.gov and include the following mandatory forms:

1. Application for Federal Assistance (SF-424)
2. Budget Information for Non-Construction Programs (SF-424A)
3. EPA Key Contacts Form 5700-54
4. EPA Form 4700-4 Preaward Compliance Review Report
5. Project Narrative Attachment Form

Optional Documents

• Cost share waiver rationale
• Project team biographies
• Negotiated Indirect Cost Rate Agreement
• Partnership letters
• Maps, data, and analyses characterizing wildfire smoke impacts

Project Narrative Requirements

The project narrative must not exceed 10 single-spaced typewritten pages in clearly readable 11-point font. Pages in excess of the 10-page limit will not be reviewed. The narrative should include:

1. Project Synopsis - Title, location, applicant information, budget summary, project period, and short project description
2. Workplan - Detailed project plan addressing all evaluation criteria including overall project approach, wildfire smoke impacts, community engagement, effectiveness measurement, and multi-hazard approach
3. Environmental Results - Expected outputs, outcomes, performance measures, and timeline
4. Programmatic Capability - Past performance, organizational experience, and staff expertise
5. Budget - Detailed budget table and narrative covering the full 3-year performance period

Funding Limits by State

A maximum of $3,395,000 (25% of total funding) may go to award recipients in any one state. Note that Tribes are sovereign nations, so funding awarded to a Tribe would be considered separately from funding granted to other recipients in a particular state.

Coalition Applications

Two or more eligible applicants may coordinate to submit a single application as a coalition. Coalitions must identify which single eligible organization will be the recipient of the grant (the "pass-through entity") and which eligible organization(s) will receive subawards. This is a strategic option for communities that want to pool resources and coordinate wildfire smoke preparedness across a region.

Program Background

The Wildfire Smoke Preparedness in Community Buildings grant program is authorized under the Clean Air Act, §103(b)(3). In 2024, the EPA awarded $10,670,000 in grant funding to nine recipients to support community wildfire smoke preparedness, with individual awards ranging from approximately $350,000 to $2,000,000.

This second round of funding combines $6,790,000 of fiscal year 2024 and $6,790,000 of fiscal year 2025 funds for a total of $13,580,000 in available funding.

Data Resources for Your Application

The EPA recommends these data sources for describing wildfire smoke impacts in your application:

• EPA Air Data: Air Quality Data Collected at Outdoor Monitors Across the US
• US Forest Service PM2.5 Monitoring - Historical Data
• US Forest Service Wildfire Risk to Communities
• National Interagency Fire Center National Significant Wildland Fire Potential Outlooks
• AirNow Fire and Smoke Map

Applicants should describe how much or how often the buildings or communities served by the project are impacted by wildfire smoke over a recent timeframe (such as each of the past 5 years), including the number of days the community was impacted by smoke, number of school closures due to smoke, and number of smoke-related air quality alerts issued.

Getting Started with Your Application

1. Attend the information session on February 25, 2026 to learn about program requirements
2. Assess your community's wildfire smoke risk using the EPA and Forest Service data tools listed above
3. Identify target buildings - Focus on public buildings or buildings that serve the public (schools, community centers, shelters, libraries)
4. Build partnerships - Consider forming a coalition with other eligible organizations to strengthen your application
5. Gather wildfire smoke impact data - Collect air quality data, school closure records, and smoke alert history for your area
6. Develop your smoke readiness plan - Outline specific activities and how you'll measure effectiveness
7. Calculate your cost share - Determine if you qualify for a waiver based on economic distress criteria, or plan for the 10% match
8. Verify SAM.gov registration - Ensure your organization has an active UEI and SAM.gov registration
9. Submit questions by April 8, 2026 - Send questions to WildfireSmokeGrants@epa.gov
10. Submit by April 15, 2026 - Applications must be received by 11:59 PM ET through Grants.gov

How Avila Can Help

Applying for the Wildfire Smoke Preparedness grant requires a well-structured project narrative, detailed budget, and strong supporting data. Avila's AI-powered platform helps organizations streamline the grant writing process by:

• Tracking grant opportunities like this EPA program from federal databases
• Analyzing eligibility requirements and matching them to your organization's profile
• Generating draft narratives based on program requirements and your organizational data
• Ensuring compliance with page limits, formatting, and content requirements

With the application deadline on April 15, 2026, now is the time to start preparing. Contact Avila today to learn how our platform can help you secure funding to protect your community buildings from wildfire smoke.