Department of the Interior (DOI), Office of Wildland Fire (OWF) - Slip-On Tanker Units

Wildfire activity is increasing. Drought and prolonged, increased temperatures are creating conditions that allow wildfires to start earlier in the year, enable them to last longer, and make them more difficult to control. Increasingly intense wildfires and prolonged droughts then lead to an influx of invasive species that burn more easily than native vegetation and in turn propel still more extreme wildfire activity.As a result, wildfires are now occurring in places where they were previously extremely rare, with more land burning, on average, each year.This is leading to a year-round wildfire season, now referred to as a fire year, throughout the country. The frequency of large wildfires is also increasing, particularly near communities.The Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act, also known as BIL, enacted in November 2021, provides funding to local governments to acquire slip-on tanker units to support wildland firefighters.

Eligibility is restricted to U.S. local governments that provide fire protection and other emergency services and are in need of slip-on tankers to improve the wildland firefighting readiness for their area of protection and service a location with a population of 50,000 or less. Additional details are found in the full announcement.

The criteria for selecting proposals will be detailed in the notice of funding opportunity

Fiscal year 2025: Provided financial assistance for U.S. local governments to acquire 179 slip-on tanker units.