Today, Congressman Patrick McHenry (R-NC-10) announced $14,250 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 Fallston Community Volunteer Fire Department in Cleveland County, and comes in the seventh 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 Department’s Preparedness Directorate’s Office of Grants and Training. This is the third consecutive year that Fallston Community VFD has received an AFG grant.

Fallston Community VFD’s grant comes just days after all sixteen fire departments in Cleveland County were collectively awarded $989,020 in AFG funds to upgrade communications equipment. That represented the largest Assistance to Firefighters Grant ever awarded in the state of North Carolina.

“Helping our emergency services is one of my top priorities, and I am pleased that Fallston Community Volunteer Fire Department has received these funds in the seventh round of Assistance to Firefighter Grants,” said Congressman McHenry. “This grant will help the department update their equipment, improve operations and acquire the tools necessary to respond in emergency situations.”

Thus far, twenty-three fire departments in the Tenth District have received AFG grants for a total of $1,556,980. This year’s awards will continue to be announced in rounds through the end of December.