$355K grant helps N.C. fire department purchase new SCBA

By Mark Rogers
The Sanford Herald, N.C.

SANFORD, N.C. — A grant from the Federal Emergency Management Agency will help Sanford Fire Department firefighters breathe easier at scenes with new air packs.

Fire Chief Matt Arnold told the Sanford City Council about the grant award during council's Tuesday afternoon meeting.

"In February, we applied for the Assistance to Firefighters Grant through FEMA to replace our breathing air packs," he said. "It's a very competitive grant across the country, and we received notification Friday that we were awarded the grant in the amount of $355,085."

The city's portion to match the grant is 5%, which amounts to a little less than $17,000, according to Arnold.

"This will replace all the air packs that we use throughout the city," Arnold said. "This was a cumulative effort across the entire fire department. Everybody helped in writing this grant."

Arnold said there was also another plus to having written the grant.

"The good news going forward is that we can use a lot of those narratives that we used in the AFG grant for the SAFER (Staffing for Adequate Fire and Emergency Response) grant," he said. "I know everybody is anxiously waiting to hear about the SAFER grant. We expect to hear on that grant later this week."

Arnold noted that Sanford received the largest AFG grant in North Carolina during the grant cycle.

"A lot of hard work was put in by all members of the staff," he said.

Council then quickly agreed to accept the grant and closed the discussion with a round of applause.

"This is wonderful," Mayor Rebecca Wyhof Salmon concluded.

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