Today, Congressman Patrick McHenry announced $109,715 in U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) grants to local fire departments in the Tenth Congressional District.

The grants will go to Icard Township Fire & Rescue, Inc. in the amount of $45,395 and to the Drowning Creek Volunteer Fire Department in the amount of $64,320.  Both departments serve areas of Burke County near the border with Catawba County.  These grants come in the eighteenth 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 Department’s Preparedness Directorate’s Office of Grants and Training. 

This is Icard Township Fire & Rescue’s second straight year in receiving an AFG Grant.  According to Chief Brand Lingerfelt, “We plan to use these funds to purchase communications equipment to make our department interoperable with Burke County’s 800 megahertz VIPER communications system.”  Chief Lingerfelt continued, “Congressman McHenry has been a true friend to the fire services and we appreciate his support of the Assistance to Firefighters Program.”

Drowning Creek VFD is receiving its first AFG Grant in recent years and will use the proceeds to purchase basic fire protection equipment. 

“With today’s tough economy, the Assistance to Firefighters Grant Program is absolutely crucial, especially for volunteer departments,” stated Congressman McHenry.  “Barbeques and fundraisers simply aren’t sufficient to cover the costs of the advanced equipment necessary to protect our fire service personnel.  It has been my honor to work closely with fire, rescue and other emergency service providers to help them get the resources they need to protect our communities.”

Last fiscal year, twenty-eight departments in the Tenth Congressional District received AFG funding for a total of $3,138,123 in funds disbursed.  Thus far in this year’s fiscal cycle, $915,155 has been awarded to sixteen departments in the Tenth District and at least one department in each of the district’s ten counties has received a grant.

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