Today, Congressman Patrick McHenry announced the awarding of a U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) grant in the amount of $40,375 to a local fire department in the Tenth Congressional District.

The grant will go to the City of Lincolnton Fire Department in Lincoln County, and comes in the forty-first round of the 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 new fire and rescue equipment.  “This is the Lincolnton Fire Department’s third AFG grant in the past four years,” stated Congressman McHenry.  “This is a testament not only to the persuasiveness of the department’s applications but also to the professionalism and leadership shown by Lincolnton’s officers and firefighting personnel.”

Lincolnton is the third Lincoln County fire department to receive AFG funding in last year’s cycle, following Boger City Volunteer Fire Department which was funded in the eleventh round and North 321 Volunteer Fire Department which was funded in the twenty-sixth round. 

Thus far in the 2008 fiscal cycle, $1,743,884 has been awarded in twenty-six grants to twenty-four 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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