Press Release
Congressman McHenry Announces $190,518 Homeland Security Grant to Lowell Fire Department in Gaston CountyU.S. Department of Homeland Security awards Assistance to Firefighter Grant funds to local department
Washington,
August 11, 2014
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Jeff Butler
(202-225-2576)
WASHINGTON – Today, Congressman Patrick McHenry (R-NC-10) announced $190,518 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 Lowell Fire Department in Gaston County, and comes in the sixteenth round of the 2013 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. According to Lowell Fire Chief Scott Moore, the grant funds will be used to purchase at least 30 new self-contained breathing apparatus (SCBA). Those air packs will replace several outdated ones the department has in its inventory. Other miscellaneous equipment will also be purchased with the grant funds. “I want to congratulate Chief Moore and his department on writing such a successful grant,” commented Congressman McHenry. “I look forward to visiting the Lowell Fire Department soon to see their new equipment and thank their volunteers for all they do.” 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 would like to see from departments. 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. |