Hanover Fire Department Awarded FEMA Assistance to Firefighters Grant 8/29/21

The Hanover Fire Department is pleased to announce that it has been awarded $76,666 through the Federal Emergency Management Agency’s (FEMA) Assistance to Firefighter Grant (AFG) Program.

The primary goal of the Assistance to Firefighters Grant is to meet the firefighting and emergency response needs of fire departments and non-affiliated emergency medical service organizations across the nation.

AFG provides an extremely competitive grant program that 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.

Funds from this Grant Award will be used to purchase firefighter turnout gear, identified as part of an ongoing needs assessment process within the Hanover Fire Department, as being a critical need to ensure firefighter safety. Firefighter turnout gear has a useful life expectancy of ten years, after which it no longer meets applicable standards. The amount of turnout gear that needed replacement required placement on the Town’s Capital Budget. Last year, the Department was asked to identify other funding mechanisms to avoid a large capital outlay this year, if possible. Since then, the Department was successful in obtaining nearly $100,000 through multiple grant programs and will now be able to replace all gear with no direct impact to taxpayers in Hanover.

The Hanover Fire Department has been awarded over three million dollars in the past ten years through federal, state, and private grants.