The Pittsfield Fire Department will receive $140,874 from the Federal Emergency Management Agency for an Assistance to Firefighters Grant as part of a Regional Award. The grant will be used for reimbursement and/or purchase of emergency medical personal protective equipment and disinfection/decontamination supplies and equipment used in their responses to COVID-19 incidents.

The Pittsfield Fire Department is serving as the host applicant for this award.  Other communities/entities sharing in this award include: Adams, Cheshire, Clarksburg, Dalton, Florida, Blandford, Lanesboro, North Adams Fire, Savoy, Stamford VT., Williamstown, Pittsfield, Stockbridge, Sandisfield, North Adams Ambulance, Adams Ambulance, Great Barrington, and Sheffield.

The primary goal of the Assistance to Firefighters Grant is to meet the firefighting and emergency response needs of fire departments and nonaffiliated emergency medical service organizations. Since 2001, AFG has helped firefighters and other first responders obtain critically needed equipment, protective gear, emergency vehicles, training, and other resources necessary for protecting the public and emergency personnel from fire and related hazards.

The grant is funded through FEMA’s Assistance to Firefighters Grant program. Eligible applicants include local fire departments, fire districts, nonaffiliated EMS organizations, tribal fire departments and State Fire Training Academies. The grant applications are submitted from each agency directly to FEMA, where the applications are reviewed and scored by fire service personnel from throughout the nation.

FEMA obligates funding for this project directly to the recipient agencies. It is the recipient agency’s responsibility to manage their grant award within federal guidelines with technical assistance and monitoring provided by FEMA Fire Program Specialists.

Additional information about FEMA’s Assistance to Firefighters grant program(s) can be found at https://www.fema.gov/firegrants.

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