Today, Congressman Patrick McHenry (R-NC-10) announced $206,666 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 Town of Maiden Fire Department in Catawba County and comes in the first round of the 2019 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 (FEMA) in cooperation with the U.S. Fire Administration.  

According to Maiden Fire Chief Tracy Caldwell, the grant will be used to replace the department’s stock of self-contained breathing apparatus (SCBA) air packs. “Our current air packs are out of date and in great need of replacement," said Chief Caldwell. "This grant will be an enormous help to our department in bringing our air packs up to current standards.”

“I visited the Maiden Fire Department in January of this year to recognize them for a personnel grant they received through the AFG program,” said Congressman McHenry. “Chief Caldwell and his team provide great leadership for the fire service and the Town of Maiden.”

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.  

Maiden is one of two 10^th District departments to receive AFG funding thus far during the 2019 cycle with a total of $270,381 in AFG funds having been awarded among those departments.

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