Today, Congressman Patrick McHenry (R-NC-10) announced $24,197 in a U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) grant to a local fire department in the Tenth Congressional District.

The grant will go to the Green Creek Volunteer Fire Department in Polk County, and comes in the thirty-first round of the 2012 fiscal year Assistance to Firefighters Grant Program (AFG), which aims to help firefighters and first responders throughout the country.  Local departments applied for the grants, and the program is administered by the Grant Programs Directorate of the Federal Emergency Management Agency in cooperation with the U.S. Fire Administration. 

“Green Creek is the second fire department in Polk County to receive an AFG Grant in this funding cycle,” stated Congressman McHenry.  The Tryon Fire Department received a similar grant in March.  Both grants will fund equipment and operations.    

A panel of fire experts at DHS awards AFG grants through a competitive review process.  Congressman McHenry hosts workshops for 10th District EMS and fire departments to help guide personnel through the process and give them an inside view of what the committee looks for.  The workshops are taught by Cherryville Fire Chief Jeff Cash, a nationally recognized expert in his field and former member of DHS’s AFG review committee.  Since Congressman McHenry and Chief Cash began the program, 10th District EMS and fire departments have consistently won more grants than departments in most of North Carolina’s other Congressional Districts.  

Thus far in the 2012 funding cycle, $1,008,167 has been awarded to 10th District departments.

Grants will continue to be announced in rounds weekly through the coming months.  

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