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The Lebanon Volunteer Rescue Department is proud to announce that they have received a 2007 Firefighters Assistance Grant for nearly $30,000.

This is the 2nd time Lebanon Rescue has received one of these grants in the three years that emergency medical services has been able to apply for federal grant money.

Rescue Chief Samantha Cole was notified by Senator Susan Collins and Senator Olympia Snowe’s office early Wednesday morning that Lebanon Rescue had been awarded the grant.

“I was totally shocked to have received the grant. We work hard year round submitting grants to help obtain necessary equipment without burdening the taxpayers. We have been very successful with grants, this is just amazing!” Rescue Chief Samantha Cole added.

The primary goal of the Assistance to Firefighters Grants (AFG) is to meet the firefighting and emergency response needs of fire departments and non affiliated emergency medical services organizations.

Since 2001, AFG has helped firefighters and other first responders to obtain critically needed equipment, protective gear, emergency vehicles, training, and other resources needed to protect the public and emergency personnel from fire and related hazards.

The National Preparedness Directorate in the Federal Emergency Management Agency administers the grants in cooperation with the U.S. Fire Administration. For fiscal year 2005, Congress reauthorized the Assistance to Firefighters Grants for an additional 5 years through 2010.

The grant total was $28,598, with the federal share being $27,168 and local share being $1,430. The local share was included in this years rescue operation budget.

This brings the amount of grants that the rescue has received to nearly $150,000 in the past five years. In 2005, the Lebanon Volunteer Rescue Department received a similar grant also for nearly $30,000 to purchase 39 sets of safety gear. Now the department has about 50 volunteers and needed the additional gear to outfit all the members. Helmets and rescue gloves will also be ordered for all the members.

“We are very excited to receive this grant, which will help protect our valuable first responders. Each day these volunteers risk their lives helping neighbors in need, with this equipment, they will be better equipped to do their jobs.” Rescue Chief Samantha Cole added.

The grant breakdown is as follows:

$24,473 for new safety equipment which includes safety coats and pants, gloves and helmets.
$4,125 for volunteer wellness and fitness programs to ensure the responders are in healthy conditions to do their volunteer work.

For the 2007 Assistance to Firefighters Grant Program, there were 20,731 applications for grants received. In 2006, there were 18,172, making this year more challenging to receive an award. Of the 2007 grant program, 58.73% of grants received were from agencies like Lebanon Rescue, all volunteer.

The annual program awards about $547 million dollars to agencies across the country. The total amount of awards requested was over 3.1 billion dollars. In Maine , there were 300 applications for assistance sent in, or 1.45% of the applications received.

“I cannot stress how important these grants are to help smaller departments be able to function properly. With a small budget, it would be nearly impossible to ask for large orders like this.

We have been budgeting for three sets of gear a year, now we will be able to purchase safety gear for all the current members.

We take the safety of our volunteers as the number one importance. With this gear, we will be able to better equip the volunteers to do their jobs.” Rescue Chief Samantha Cole added.

The department has already contacted their supplier after receiving the necessary bids for gear. The company will attend an upcoming training session to measure the members for gear. The new gear will take about 6 weeks to be delivered.

The Lebanon Volunteer Rescue Department was founded in 1981. In 2002, they became the municipal ambulance service for Lebanon under Chief Samantha Cole. Today, the department has 51 active volunteers who respond to nearly 700 incidents a year and donated around 11,000 manpower hours last year to the community.

“I want to thank everyone who helped with the grant and especially the volunteers who give so much to their community. Without the volunteers, we would not have such a successful and outstanding department.” Chief Cole added.