The Bladensburg and Eastern Knox County joint fire districts were awarded matching grants for equipment from the Ohio Department of Natural Resources (ODNR) Division of Forestry.
Bladensburg Joint Fire district will receive $3,995 for pumps for slip-in units through the Volunteer Fire Assistance (VFA) Grant program. Eastern Knox County Joint Fire District will get $7,115 for slip-in units. These awards were among the 57 projects receiving a total of $394,274 for fire departments in rural areas of Ohio.
“We are pleased to be able to provide funding to local volunteer fire departments for the acquisition of upgraded firefighting equipment,” said Dan Balser, chief of the ODNR Division of Forestry, in a press release. “In addition to the training we provide, this equipment will increase the efficiency of our frontline partners in wildfire prevention and suppression.”
Fire departments serving communities with fewer than 10,000 people within the ODNR Forestry wildfire protection area are eligible for the VFA grants. The funding may provide up to 50% of the project cost, not to exceed $10,000 per grant. Fire departments may purchase UTVs (utility task vehicles), slip-in wildfire pump units, wildfire and structure fire PPE, MARCS radios, tools and other items to support fire department operations and development. Slip-in units turn a UTV into an engine.
VFA grant funding is provided to ODNR Forestry from the U.S. Forest Service.
