By Mark Wineka
mwineka@salisburypost.com
Locke Volunteer Fire Department in Rowan County will receive a $31,137 grant for operations and safety as part of grants announced Friday by U.S. Sen. Kay Hagan, D-N.C.
Hagan’s office said North Carolina fire departments and emergency medical services organizations will receive a total of $707,023 in Assistance to Firefighters Grant funding from the Federal Emergency Management Agency.
The AFG program has three types of awards: Fire Grants, Staffing for Adequate Fire and Emergency Response grants and Fire Prevention and Safety grants.
The money announced Friday will be in the form of Fire Grants. Fire Grants are allocated to fund firefighting and emergency response needs and to support multi-organization regional projects that fall under more than one local jurisdiction.
The fiscal-year AFG awards will ultimately distribute $500 million to fire departments around the country. “The right training and equipment, when matched with the courage of our first responders, will make communities safer,” FEMA Regional Administrator Phil May said in a press release. “These AFG funds will help give the firefighters and emergency medical service personnel who serve our nation the tools necessary to do their jobs safely and effectively.”
Hagan said the AFG grants are essential in keeping firefighters and first responders prepared.
“These hardworking men and women sacrifice so much for the citizens for North Carolina,” she said, “and this money will help them maintain the most up-to-date technology and equipment. I am so proud of our state’s brave first responders and I look forward to supporting their work as a U.S. senator.”
The Salisbury Fire Department recently announced its receipt of a $241,650 Assistance to Firefighters Grant from FEMA.