COVID grants help fire depts. pay the bills
County fire and emergency departments plan to use almost $740,000 in state grant money for bills they normally would pay with money from fundraisers that were canceled this year due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
The COVID-19 Crisis Fire, Rescue and EMS Grants from the Office of the State Fire Commissioner were awarded recently after questions about eligible uses of the money were resolved.
“Because the program is funded exclusively by the federal CARES Act, federal guidance and requirements surrounding the administration and eligible uses of CARES Act funds were updated several times. Unfortunately, these changes were out of our control and caused significant confusion and frustration, not only for you, but also for OSFC staff, who take tremendous pride in their work to support first responders in Pennsylvania,” state Fire Commissioner Bruce Trego said in a statement posted on the office's grant Web page.
Grants totaling $637,359 were awarded to 25 fire departments, and eight EMS departments received a total of $102,000.
The Butler Township Volunteer Fire District received the largest grant, $71,342.
Fire Chief Chris Switala said the larger grant was awarded due to this year's merger of the township's three volunteer departments into the fire district.
The South Butler, Mercer Road and Butler Township Volunteer Fire Department District 3 merged earlier this year to address manpower issues.
For a certain number of years, after a department is formed by a merger, the merged department receives the grants the former departments would have received, Switala said.
“They plan on using it for their insurance and utility expenses, apparatus expenses and personal protection equipment,” he said.
The Petrolia Volunteer Fire Department is using its $23,836 grant to pay utility and insurance bills, said Chief Chuck Barnes.
“We're going to use it to pay bills for stuff we lost on regular fundraisers. We lost three fundraisers due to COVID,” Barnes said. “This will make up the money we had to spend on that throughout the year without having fundraisers available.”
He said the application process for the grant was difficult because state and federal guidelines changed multiple times.
“All fire departments in the state had tremendous losses. They can use that to make up some of that loss,” Barnes said.
The West Sunbury Volunteer Fire Department's $23,973 grant is also being used to cover costs, according to assistant Chief Reid Campbell.
“We're going to be using it for insurance premiums and utility payments. We're using the money to keep the doors open,” Campbell said.
He said the department was initially told it couldn't spend the money on insurance and utilities, but was eventually told those expenses qualified for the grant.
“The department has a hard time raising money, but fortunately we get grant money. We are dependent on grant money and municipal support,” Campbell said. “We were not able to have in-person fundraisers. We lost our ability to raise income due to COVID. That's kind of where we're at.”
