By Gabrielle Lewis
The Frederick News-Post
FREDERICK COUNTY, Md. — Frederick County’s Division of Fire and Rescue Services and the Middletown Volunteer Fire Company, have been awarded thousands in federal grants to support their operations.
The majority of the grant for DFRS, which is more than $392,000, will fund training for more than 1,000 career and volunteer personnel on operating on major roads during emergency incidents.
The rest of the funds will go toward traffic equipment to alert drivers as they approach an emergency incident, according to a county news release.
The grant for the Middletown Volunteer Fire Company, which is more than $40,000, will pay for replacements of outdated fire hoses and nozzles, according to a news release from the offices of U.S. Sens. Chris Van Hollen and Ben Cardin and U.S. Rep. David Trone.
The departments were awarded funds through the Federal Emergency Management Agency ( FEMA ) Assistance to Firefighters Grant program.
The program finances firefighting and emergency response needs from fire departments and emergency medical service organizations.
Frederick County Fire Chief Tom Coe said that over the last decade, DFRS has had multiple instances when its equipment has been significantly damaged from being struck while on major highways.
He said that one time, multiple responders operating on a busy road were struck and one was traumatically injured.
“Roadway incidents are actually one of the more hazardous environments that we regularly operate in,” Coe said. "... This training will allow all of our responders to be better equipped to not only provide for their safety but for the safety of the traveling public when an emergency on the highway occurs.”
Middletown Volunteer Fire Company Chief Brent Harne said the fire company applies to the Assistance to Firefighters Grant program every year.
The organization applied for hose and nozzle replacements this year because some of the current equipment is more than 20 years old.
While the age of the equipment hasn’t interfered with the fire company’s operations, Harne said, it’s good practice to regularly maintain them.
“We’re ecstatic that this occurred,” he said. "... This is a huge surprise for us. We’ve gotten grants in the past, but we really needed this stuff.”
This year, FEMA awarded more than $2.2 million in Assistance to Firefighters Grants across Maryland.
Some of the largest awards went to the Hughesville Volunteer Fire Department and Rescue Squad in Charles County, Montgomery County government, Frederick County’s DFRS and the mayor and city council of Ocean City.
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