Today, Congressman Patrick McHenry (R-NC-10) announced $328,820 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 City of Conover Fire Department in Catawba County, and comes in the eighth round of this year’s 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. 

The grant funds will be used to purchase forty new airpacks and twenty-five new sets of turnout gear. 

“The Conover Fire Department, under Chief Mark Hinson’s leadership, has been a leader in the fire service,” commented Congressman McHenry.  “This is just the latest of many AFG grants they have received over the past few years and speaks to the department’s professionalism and dedicated service.”

Chief Hinson thanked the Congressman for his support of the fire service, “The Congressman has been a champion of fire departments in his district.  He has visited our department and we look forward to having him back again soon.”

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.  

Conover is the first Tenth District fire department to receive AFG funding as a part of the FY 2014 grant cycle.  In FY 2013, five grants were awarded in the Tenth District totaling $2,202,916 including a regional grant that benefited every department in Catawba County.

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