| On Friday, May 7th the Christiana Fire Company received notification from the U.S. Department of Homeland Security that we were selected to receive a Federal Grant under the Assistance to Firefighters Grant Program.
The grant, in the amount of $21,500 will go towards the purchase of 10 sets of brand new firefighting gear.
Many of our firefighters are wearing gear that is extremely worn and outdated, and others are wearing "hand me down" gear that does not properly fit, causing many safety concerns.
The cost to outfit a single firefighter in structural firefighting gear, which includes a coat, pants, boots, gloves, and a helmet is approximately $2,100. This amount does not include self contained breathing apparatus which is usually an additional $3,000. While this grant will not cover new air packs, we will be able to outfit our personnel with brand new gear.
In the past, members shared gear or dealt with the worn and outdated gear we had until we purchased a new set. In recent years, we have been able to afford to purchase 3 sets of new gear per year.
The Fire Company also has to provide a 5% matching funds portion of the grant, which is $1,075. We will use funds generated by our fundraisers to offset the matching funds request and any minor additional charges we incur over the grant amount.
In 2009, the U.S. Department of Homeland Security received 19,791 applications for assistance in this grant program. The total amount requested was close to 3.1 billion dollars, however only $465 million is available in the program. Due to the lack of funding for each application, the awards are selected by a competitve award process. Approximately 25%, or 5,000 applications out of the 19,791 received will receive funding assistance. The remainder will be denied for this year.
Pennsylvania leads the Nation in awards each year, with 425 thus far in 2009 totaling $34,226,874. Approximately 4,886 awards have been announced.
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 they have provided with this grant. Our grant writer John Sly is currently available to assist your fire company with obtaining a Federal grant within the next 24 hours! |
