03/28/2024
Spread the love

By Charlotte Smith

Bladen County Volunteer Fire Departments requested funding from the 2020 Volunteer Fire Department Grant Fund and will receive the amounts they asked for this year. According to the Office of the State Fire Marshal and Insurance Commissioner, Mike Causey, eight departments in total will receive the funding they requested from the grant program.

Yesterday, Causey Announced two more grants would be distributed to Bladen County Volunteer Fire Departments.

Carvers Creek Volunteer Fire Department, Inc., and the Ammon Volunteer Fire Department, Inc. will receive a $5,000 grant from Blue Cross Blue Sheild of North Carolina (BCBSNC). (View the complete list of grant recipients by clicking here)

A total of $500,000 was donated by BCBSNC to assist rural volunteer fire departments as part of the insurance company’s Rural NC Initiative for 2020.

Grant awards were made to volunteer fire departments that received less than $50,000 from municipal and county governments. Each $5,000 grant is to be used for safety equipment purchases to help departments protect their firefighters and operate more safely during this coronavirus pandemic.

The N.C. Department of Insurance’s Office of State Fire Marshal, in cooperation with the N.C. State Firefighters Association and N.C. According to Causey’s report, the Firefighters Fund will distribute this grant money to 94 departments in 36 rural counties.

The 2020 Volunteer Fire Department Grant Funds will be as follows (View the full list of grant recipients by clicking here):

Bladenboro Fire Department requested and will receive: $12,172.50

Carvers Creek Volunteer Fire Department, Inc. requested and will receive $8,123.25

Clarkton Fire Department requested and will receive $15,290.32

Dublin Fire Department requested and will receive $9,584.50

Hickory Grove Volunteer Fire Department, Inc. of Bladen County requested and will receive $5,847.50

Kelly Volunteer Fire Department, Inc. requested and will receive $13,775.00

Tar Heel Rural Volunteer Fire Department, Inc. requested and will receive $27,918.25

White Oak Fire Department, Inc. requested and will receive $13,706.00.

The total funding awarded for Bladen County Volunteer with the 2020 Volunteer Fire Department Grant Funds is $106,417.32.

In 2019, White Lake/Bladen County Water Rescue was awarded $5,697.78 from the Volunteer Rescue/EMS Fund.

According to the Office of the State Fire Marshal, the Fire/Rescue Grants & Relief Fund programs collect and disburse over 12 Million dollars annually. However, the BCBSNC grant funding may not be annually.

“This is a one time Grant Initiative at this point,” said Brian Taylor, Chief State Fire Marshal, Assistant Commissioner

The Volunteer Fire Department Fund and Volunteer Rescue/EMS Fund was created to assist our State’s volunteer emergency personnel financially. The NC General Statutes were amended to allow for limited paid personnel.

The grant funding distributed through dollar-for-dollar matching fund programs assists fire departments and rescue/EMS organizations in purchasing related equipment and making capital expenditures, according to the State Fire Marshal’s Office.

The application period for the 2020 Fire Grants opened on January 2, 2020 and ended on March 2, 2020.

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