By Ann M. Tabb
Starkville Daily News

George

Central Oktibbeha County volunteer fire department officials will receive a $57,537 grant from some $500,000 in funds distributed by the Federal Emergency Management Agency under the Assistance to Firefighters Grant Program.

"I want to thank President Bush and FEMA Director Joe Allbaugh for supporting these Mississippi fire departments," said U.S. Senator Trent Lott, R-Miss, in a statement Thursday announcing the seventh round of awards by FEMA.

"Quality local fire departments help sustain public safety and they assist in providing local residents with lower insurance rates."

The grant is part of $30 million being awarded nationwide that will impact 487 fire departments nationwide.

This year, the federal Assistance to Firefighters funds will total about $360 million nationally.

According to Central Oktibbeha Fire Chief Bennet George, this is the first federal grant awarded to a county fire department under the program.

"It is quite a lot of money for us as a small, poor, rural department -- it will help do some things that we would not be able to do otherwise."

George said horor stories abound about volunteer fire departments with no fire truck or some fire departments that only have three sets of fire protection gear for the entire department, so he feels fortunate that his grant application beat the competition and was accepted by the federal agency.

"We receive annual support from the county Board of Supervisors and the local community pitches in quite a bit to make sure we have the basic equipment," said George about the Longview-based department on Highway 12 that has 20 volunteer firefighters on staff.

George said he submitted the grant proposal to create a Rapid Intervention Team, whose first job is to rescue firefighters who become trapped in a fire.

George said the grant will be used to replace the department's own aging Self Contained Breathing Apparatuses (SCBA), plus to purchase several more for the team at a cost of $5,000 each; up to $15,000 to purchase an infrared thermal imaging camera that "sees" through smoke to locate hurt firefighters, plus adio equipment and other items to improve firefighter safety.

"We would respond to mutual aid calls if needed in the county with this team and if the Starkville Fire Department neede help, we would be happy to assist them as well," said George.

The grant requires a ten percent match by the small department, which will total $6,400 that the department would have to provide out of their own slim budget.

"We have got to do a lot of fund raising real quick," said George.

The grant is a big boost in the expansion of the county's fire services, according to Oktibbeha County Fire Coordinator Kirk Rosenhan.

"Certainly, we are delighted to have this additional support that will enable us to better serve the community, especially in the light of the new Homeland Security Program," Rosenhan said on Thursday. "Every dollar of this grant will be put to good use for equipment, since volunteers do not receive a salary."

"The Grenada Fire Department, who received $60,512 in the allocation, was the only department that received a larger grant than Central Oktibbeha."

Oct. 11, 2002