The Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) Friday, Aug. 21, announced $42.4 million in direct assistance grants to 221 fire departments nationwide through the agency’s Assistance to Firefighters Grant (AFG) program. Included among them are Middletown Springs in Rutland County that will get $114,857 and South Strafford in Orange County that will get $79,524, both to purchase firefighter breathing apparatus.
Since 2001, the AFG has helped firefighters and other first responders obtain critically needed equipment, protective gear, emergency vehicles, training and other resources necessary for protecting the public and emergency personnel from fire and related hazards.
Eligible applicants include local fire departments, fire districts, nonaffiliated EMS organizations, tribal fire departments and state fire training academies. The grant applications are submitted from each agency directly to FEMA, where the applications are reviewed and scored by fire service personnel from throughout
the nation.
