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Decatur County Fire and Rescue Chief Charlie McCann recently updated the Decatur County Board of Commissioners on the grant money they had received.

McCann announced in 2020 they have been awarded five grants so far, totaling more than $433,000.

DCFR was first awarded the GFSTC (Fireworks) Grant on January 27, 2020 for $24,137. This grant helps DCFR purchase personal protective equipment and turnout gear.

They next received the Golden Triangle Grant for $939.6.

“We use that money to purchase training materials such as PowerPoint and laptops for trainings classes,” McCann said.

In July, DCFR was awarded another grant to help purchase personal protective equipment and turnout gear. They received the ACCG Grant for $3,950.

Finally, they received two large grants in August.

They first received a FEMA Grant for extrication equipment and rescue equipment that totaled $54,000.

“This will upgrade airbags and rescue ropes,” he said. “Just to give you a little background on how long we’ve been working on this, the current extrication equipment we’ve been using was purchased in 1986 and 1988.”

McCann said they recently had to replace a spreader in the last budget cycle, so this will help tremendously.

The last grant they received is a highly competitive grant, according to McCann.

It is a FEMA grant for $350,000 that will be used to purchase a fire truck.

“They approved us for a new pumper,” McCann said.

McCann said the pumper could take up for a year to arrive, due to COVID-19 backing up many production plants.

In order to accept these grants, the County will have to match 10% of both FEMA grants.

McCann assured them the money would go to good use, especially the rescue equipment. He said their rescue ropes are past due to be replaced.

Commissioner Pete Stephens thanked McCann and his team for all they are doing and their response to the community.

The grants were placed on the agenda to be approved and discussed during their next regular board meeting.