Washington, D.C. – U.S. Senator Russ Feingold announced that seventeen Wisconsin fire departments have received Assistance to Firefighters Grants which together total more than $1,161,500. The grants go toward training, wellness and fitness, firefighting equipment, personal protective equipment and modifications to fire stations and facilities.
They are provided by the United States Fire Administration (USFA), which is part of the U.S. Department of Homeland Security’s Office for Domestic Preparedness (ODP). In April 2008, Senator Feingold sent a letter pressing the ODP to strongly consider all Assistance to Firefighter Grant applications from communities across Wisconsin. The following departments received grants:
- Amherst Fire District
- Town of Buchanan Fire & Rescue
- De Pere Fire Rescue
- City of Delavan Fire Department
- Southern Door Fire Department
- Durand City-Rural Fire Department
- Town of Gillett Fire Department
- Hales Corners Fire Department
- Hatley Fire & Ambulance District
- Village of Hobart Volunteer Fire Dept
- Lake Country Fire Department
- Manawa Rural Fire Department
- Mauston Volunteer Fire Department
- Pittsville Fire Department Inc.
- Richfield Rural Fire Department
- Somerset Fire/Rescue
- White Lake Volunteer Fire Dept
“This grant program has been an unqualified success in getting much-needed resources directly to local firefighters,” Feingold said. “I have been and continue to be a strong supporter of this program, in no small measure because of the advocacy of Wisconsin firefighters. The members of both volunteer and career fire departments put their lives on the line on a daily basis for others and at virtually every meeting I have with Wisconsin firefighters, they tell me about the vital importance of these grants and how these grants allow them to get needed equipment and training they would otherwise be unable to afford.”
ODP serves the American public and the nation’s fire services through training, data collection and analysis, public fire education, and fire protection technology research. This grant program is designed as an opportunity for the U.S. Congress to work with ODP to support firefighting departments across the country.
