The Rural Fire Assistance (RFA) program funds are appropriated by Congress annually. The Department of the Interior receives an appropriated budget each year for a rural fire assistance (RFA) grant program. The maximum award is $20,000. This funding will enhance the fire protection capabilities of rural and volunteer fire departments through training, equipment purchases, and fire prevention work on a cost-shared basis. The DOI assistance program targets rural and volunteer fire departments that routinely help fight fire on or near DOI lands. One of these four agencies administers those lands: Bureau of Land Management (BLM), Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA), U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS) and the National Park Service (NPS). RFA is intended to increase local firefighter safety and enhance the fire protection capabilities of Rural Fire Departments (RFD) by helping RFDs meet accepted standards of wildland fire qualifications, training, and performance for initial and extended attack at the local level. The RFA program supports the overall goals of the National Fire Plan byimproving the capacity and capability of local fire departments to protect their communities from the effects of wildland fire. The RFA program provides funds for RFDs that: protect rural, wildland-urban interface communities; play a substantial cooperative role in the protection of federal lands; are cooperators with the Department of the Interior (DOI) managed lands through cooperative agreements with the DOI or their respective State; and serve communities with a population of 10,000 or less. Activities in this program are derived from the FY 2001 Department of the Interior and Related Agencies Appropriations Act, PL 106-291. FY 2001 was the first time the Congress appropriated funds for RFA grants.