SOUTH POINT — South Point Volunteer Fire Department advises that they have been officially notified that they have been awarded a portion of the 2010 Assistance to Firefighters Grant that is provided by FEMA and U.S. Department of Homeland Security.

Effective Jan., 28, the volunteer fire department was notified that the review board of the Assistance to Firefighters Grant had reviewed their application and had looked upon it favorably and was awarding the programs that had been requested in the amount of $193,600.

Of this amount the Department will have to match 5 percent of the total award. This requires them to come up with a total of

FEMA and U.S. Department of Homeland Security will provide the remaining $183,920.00 totaling $193,600.00. This will be used to fund 2 different projects.

The first one is to provide all of the members of the department with new and up-to-date turnout gear and self-contained breathing Apparatus (SCBA). We will be purchasing 37 sets of turnout gear and 14 apparatus that the will have an additional spare bottle to replace the worn and out-of-date equipment that we are currently trying to use. This program within the grant project will take up $134,800.

The second project is to further the education and training of the volunteer firefighters at no personal out of pocket expense to the firefighters.

We were awarded $58,800 in funds to develop and further the training department within the station itself.

This will not only aid the Village of South Point but will go a long way during mutual aid responses to the neighboring Perry Township and Fayette Township fire departments districts.

The grant is administered by the Department of Homeland Security’s Federal Emergency Management Agency in cooperation with the U.S. Fire Administration. Aderholt is chairman of the Appropriations Subcommittee on Homeland Security, which is the funding arm for the operations of the Department of Homeland Security.

Since 2001, the Assistance to Firefighters Grant Program has provided about $4.6 billion in grants to first-responder organizations. The Assistance to Firefighters Grant Program is expected to award another $390 million to emergency organizations from funding appropriated during FY 2010.