Act 13 Unconventional Gas Well Fund Grant

The Unconventional Gas Well Fund Grant is administered by the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania through the Office of the State Fire Commissioner. Based on the program page provided, the grant is intended to strengthen emergency response capacity for organizations that may be called to incidents associated with unconventional gas well activity. The program is positioned as a targeted public safety funding source for volunteer and career fire companies, emergency medical services, and rescue companies operating in Pennsylvania counties where unconventional gas well drilling has been permitted, as well as in counties that directly border those permitted counties and respond to related emergencies. This makes the program a specialized state grant rather than a general statewide public safety funding opportunity open to every emergency response organization in Pennsylvania. The stated purpose of the grant is to support certification, training, and equipment for eligible emergency response organizations. The certification component is described as funding for obtaining professional national certification for members. The equipment component is limited to firefighting, emergency medical, rescue, or air monitoring equipment used on, or related to, an unconventional gas well pad emergency response. The source also states that all equipment purchased through the program will include training on the equipment at no additional cost to recipients. The training component is limited as well, because classes and required educational materials paid for with grant funds must be State Fire Academy-approved curriculum and must meet a predetermined minimum class size. These statements show that the funder is not offering unrestricted operating support; instead, it is directing funding toward specific preparedness and response functions tied to unconventional gas well emergencies. The available source does not provide a published award floor, award ceiling, total program funding amount, number of awards, or matching requirement. It also does not identify any indirect cost policy, project period length, or separate funding tracks. Because of that, the most reliable description is that the program funds three named activity areas only: certification, equipment, and training, subject to the program guidance and any exclusions stated there. The source explicitly notes that some exclusions apply and directs applicants to the program guidance for complete eligibility requirements. That means applicants should not assume every fire, EMS, or rescue-related expense will qualify simply because it is operationally useful. The clearest spending restrictions in the provided material are that equipment must relate to unconventional gas well pad emergency response and that training must use State Fire Academy-approved curriculum and satisfy minimum enrollment requirements. Eligibility is defined primarily by organization type and geography. Eligible organizations include volunteer fire companies, career fire companies, emergency medical services, and rescue companies. Geographic eligibility is narrower than a typical statewide state grant. The program is available only in Pennsylvania counties where unconventional gas well drilling has been permitted and in counties that directly border those permitted counties when the organizations respond to related emergencies. The source provided does not list the counties directly in text, but it references a map of gas wells in Pennsylvania and notes that additional exclusions appear in the program guidance. As a result, an applicant would need to confirm both organizational eligibility and county eligibility before applying. The grant description also indicates that the program is recurring in practice, because the page includes yearly grant results for multiple prior years, although the exact recurrence statement is not explicitly quoted in the provided text. The application timeline for the cycle shown in the source is detailed and sequential. The application period opened on September 30, 2025 and closed on November 30, 2025 at 4 p.m. The State Fire Academy and the Office of the State Fire Commissioner were scheduled to approve or disapprove all applications by January 30, 2026, with notifications after that date. Signed grant agreements were due back by April 1, 2026. The project modification request deadline was May 1, 2026, and the final report due date was June 30, 2026. The source says applications are submitted online when the application window is open. It does not identify a required letter of intent, concept paper, or other pre-application gate, and it does not list a separate question-and-answer deadline, webinar requirement, registration prerequisite, or named evaluation rubric in the text provided. For submission and administration, the page points applicants to an online grant application and also references program guidance for complete requirements. Based on the source provided, the required submission mechanics that can be stated with confidence are limited: applicants must apply online during the open window, await approval or disapproval from the reviewing offices, return signed grant agreements by the stated deadline if awarded, submit any project modification request by the stated modification deadline, and submit a final report by the final reporting deadline. The page also offers a grant office contact through an email link for help or questions, although the actual email address is not shown in the supplied text. Overall, this grant is best understood as a Pennsylvania state public safety preparedness program focused on unconventional gas well emergency response capability, with tightly defined eligible uses, geographically restricted eligibility, and a documented annual-style cycle supported by prior year result postings.