Press Release
Congressman McHenry Announces $61,606 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,
July 10, 2015
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Jeff Butler
(202-225-2576)
Congressman Patrick McHenry (R-NC-10) announced $61,606 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 ninth round of the 2014 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 Lowell Fire Chief Scott Moore, the grant funds will be used to purchase new protective turnout gear for the department’s personnel. “This is the second consecutive year that Lowell has received an AFG Grant,” said Congressman McHenry referring to Lowell’s FY 2013 AFG grant that funded new air packs. “It was a pleasure to visit Chief Moore and his department last year to congratulate them on last year’s grant. I hope to return in the near future.” 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. |