A $305,405 federal grant will pay for cancer screenings and yearly mental health check-ins for Augusta firefighters. What the money covers and how it splits.

Augusta firefighters will be offered screenings for more than 50 types of cancer and a yearly confidential mental health check-in, paid for mostly by a federal grant.

The Augusta Fire Department has been awarded $305,405.45 from the FY 2025 Assistance to Firefighters Grant program. The city announced the award Tuesday in a news release. The program is run by the U.S. Department of Homeland Security and the Federal Emergency Management Agency.

What the money pays for

The grant supports a project worth $335,946 in total, the city said. It is split two ways:

  • Cancer screenings, $229,746. Multi-cancer early detection screenings look for signals linked to more than 50 types of cancer. Follow-up care is coordinated through local health care providers.
  • Behavioral health, $106,200. Each firefighter can have an annual confidential check-in with a licensed clinician who has experience with public safety workers, plus follow-up care when needed.
Bar chart: of the $335,946 Augusta firefighter health project, $229,746 goes to multi-cancer early detection screenings and $106,200 to behavioral health check-ins. The federal award is $305,405.45.
Chart by Augusta Local Today. Source: City of Augusta release, Oct. 20, 2026.
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The federal award covers all but $30,540.55 of the project total. The release does not say where the rest comes from or when the screenings start.

Why the department wanted it

Firefighters work around smoke and chemicals that most people never meet. Fire Chief Antonio Burden said that is the point of the program.

“Our firefighters are parents, spouses, neighbors, and mentors who routinely enter environments filled with carcinogens that the average person will never encounter,” Burden said in the release.

He said adding annual behavioral health visits and multi-cancer screening to the department’s wellness program “allows us to take a proactive step toward safeguarding our workforce, ensuring early detection, structured care, and long-term support for those who protect our community every day.”

What it means for you

  • No cost to taxpayers for most of it. About 91% of the project is federal money, by our count from the figures in the release.
  • It is a wellness program, not new staff or equipment. The grant does not add fire stations, engines or firefighters.
  • Fire pay is a separate decision. The city’s 2027 proposed budget would raise the fire tax 0.2 mill to pay for a new Fire Department pay plan. Read what the proposed budget would do before the Augusta Commission votes Tuesday, Nov. 17.
  • Fire and EMS calls from the department’s own releases appear in our weekly Police and Fire log.