Over $136,000 in Federal Funding Awarded to the Columbia Volunteer Fire Department, Courtney Announces
WASHINGTON, DC — Today, Congressman Joe Courtney (CT-02) announced that the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) has awarded a new federal grant totaling more than $136,000 to the Columbia Volunteer Fire Department. The new grant award was dispersed through FEMA’s Assistance to Firefighters Grants (AFG) program, and will enable the department to purchase new Firefighter Breathing Apparatuses—the foundational tool that protects firefighters airways and lungs from toxic gas and harmful particles during a fire.
“The Columbia men and women that make up the dedicated group of volunteers that serves our community would like to thank Congressman Courtney for his support and FEMA for awarding the Columbia Volunteer Fire Department Inc. this Assistance to Firefighters Grant,” said Columbia Volunteer Fire Department Chief Steve Postemsky. “This ongoing support provided to small community fire departments is greatly appreciated. This grant will help us to acquire new air packs (SCBAs) that will be expiring next year. The AFG funding removes a large burden from the town and taxpayers that small communities like ours depend on.”
“The Columbia Volunteer Fire Department is essential to the town’s safety and wellbeing of our residents and in return we feel it is vital that we provide the fire department with the necessary equipment needed to deliver important lifesaving services,” said Steven Everett, First Selectman of the Town of Columbia. “We are appreciative of Congressman Courtney’s level of support and FEMA for awarding the funds for this crucial equipment.”
“These are highly competitive federal grant dollars, and the Columbia Volunteer Fire Department deserves a lot of credit for going out there and successfully competing for them,” said Rep. Courtney. “They were up against fire departments across the country for this grant award, they put together a strong application, and it’s great now to see more federal resources coming home to support our local first responders. This grant award means that the Columbia fire department can purchase 18 new air packs—an essential tool that our firefighters need to protect themselves while carrying out their work. We’ve welcomed home more than $1.7 million in new federal funding for our firefighters recently, and I’m glad I could lend my support to the Columbia Volunteer Fire Department’s grant application.”
FEMA will present the Columbia Volunteer Fire Department an AFG award of $136,019.04, specifically to support the purchase of 18 new firefighter breathing apparatuses. Federal AFG awards have become highly competitive over the years and are competed for by fire departments throughout nationwide. On March 3, Rep. Courtney wrote to Chris Logan, Assistant Administrator for Grant Programs at FEMA, to weigh in with strong support for the Columbia Volunteer Fire Department’s AFG grant application:
“Columbia Fire Department constitutes 34 volunteers who serve the town of Columbia, serving more than 5,000 residents and protecting several sites of significant infrastructure. The fire fighters of Columbia face risks with any fire call, however, they are burdened with the risk due to outdated and noncompliant SCBA air pack units.
“The CVFD is responsible for responding to emergency affected infrastructure sites such as State Routes 6 and 66, rail lines operated by Worchester-Providence Railroad, and a natural gas pipeline that supplies a significant portion of gas to the Northeast. It is of utter necessity that these firefighters possess functioning equipment, especially considering the implications that fire damage to these sites hold. The fire department is requesting the grant in order to purchase 18 SCBA air pack units, one of the most vital pieces of equipment. CVFD strives to property maintain their units, but the reliability of the equipment decreases over time and needs to be replaced in order to be PPE compliant, and, above all else, protect these volunteers.
“The Columbia Volunteer Fire Department provides indispensable services to its community and surrounding departments, and to continue to do so they must be able to sufficiently protect their firefighters’ wellbeing. For this reason, I urge you to award full funding to this application.”
To read the full letter, click here.
Today’s AFG award to the Columbia Fire Department represents the third round of federal support that Rep. Courtney has announced recently for local fire departments. On August 31st, Courtney shared that federal AFG awards totaling more than $887,000 would be awarded to five eastern CT fire departments in Chester, Preston, New London, Norwich, and West Stafford. That grant award helped local departments purchase essential new safety equipment, lifesaving medical devices, necessary firefighter training, and more.
On September 9th, Courtney announced the largest federal AFG award in eastern Connecticut since 2001—an award of over $739,000 for the City of Groton that will support several local fire stations, including the City of Groton, the Center Groton Fire District, the Groton Long Point Fire Association, the Mystic Fire District, the Noank Fire District, the Old Mystic Fire Department, and the Poquonnock Bridge Fire District. The award will fund the purchase of an upgraded emergency communications system, enabling firefighters and first responders throughout Groton to integrate with the State of Connecticut’s state-of-the-art, statewide emergency notifications system.
Today’s announcement brings the total amount of new federal support for eastern Connecticut firefighters to more than $1.76 million in just the last month.
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