On Friday, March 5, 2010 the Modena Fire Company received notification from the U.S. Department of Homeland Security that we were selected to receive yet another Federal Grant under the Assistance to Firefighters Grant Program.
The grant, in the amount of $41,094 will allow the fire company to purchase 2 new electric stretchers, 3 External Automatic Deliberators, and 15 sets of EMS turnout gear.
We applied for this grant in May 2009 and have been anxiously awaited this notification.
This grant will help us gain additional basic tool to assist us in doing our jobs that we previously could not have done without this Federal Assistance.
The Fire Company also has to provide a 5% matching funds portion of the grant, which is $2,054. We will then receive a Federal Share of $39,040.
The Assistance to Firefighters Grant Program began in 2001 and we have applied for assistance for the past Five years. This is the forth time we have received an award in that time, the first being a grant in the amount of $78,008 in 2005 to help purchase Truck mounted exhaust systems for all our apparatus, Upgrading of self contained breathing apparatus (SCBA), Personal face pieces for all firefighters, and new air cylinders. The second time was in 2007 for the amount of $59,360 that went towards the purchase of 28 sets of brand new firefighting gear. The third time was in 2008 for the amount of $33,264 that went towards the purchase of a turnout gear washer and dryer, new nozzles, and new hose.
Needless to say The Assistance to Firefighter Grant Program has been a great help over the years, since 2005 the Modena Fire Company has received $211,726 from this grant program.
In 2009, the U.S. Department of Homeland Security received 19,791 applications for assistance in this grant program. The total amount requested was more than 3.1 billion dollars, however only $565 million is available in the program. Due to the lack of funding for each application, the awards are selected by a competitive award process. Approximately 25%, or roughly 5,000 applications out of the 19,791 received will receive funding assistance. The remainder will be denied for this year.
The Assistance to Firefighters Grant Program is administered by the department's Directorate for Preparedness through its Office of Grants and Training in cooperation with the United States Fire Administration, also a division of the Preparedness Directorate.
We would like to thank all those involved in this program for the assistance we are provided with this grant.
