Press Release
Congressman McHenry Announces $70,715 Homeland Security Grant to Bostic Volunteer Fire Department in Rutherford CountyU.S. Department of Homeland Security awards Assistance to Firefighter Grant funds to local department
Washington,
September 11, 2018
Today, Congressman Patrick McHenry (R-NC-10) announced $70,715 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 Bostic Volunteer Fire Department in Rutherford County, and comes in the ninth round of the 2017 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 from the program which is administered by the Grant Programs Directorate of the Federal Emergency Management Agency in cooperation with the U.S. Fire Administration. Grants may be used for equipment or vehicle acquisition or for regional, multi-agency requests. Bostic VFD’s grant will be used to purchase equipment. “Bostic Volunteer Fire Department protects a large, rural area of central Rutherford County,” said Congressman McHenry. “The AFG Grant is a great resource for departments such as Bostic to purchase new equipment to better protect their community and keep fire personnel safe.” 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. Bostic is one of seven departments to receive AFG grant funding in the Tenth District during the 2017 grant funding cycle with a total of $738,509 distributed among those departments. Grants will continue to be announced in weekly rounds through the coming months. |