A pair of Putnam County volunteer fire departments will be able to better protect their firefighters thanks to a grant from the Indiana Department of Natural Resources.
The Cloverdale Township and Jefferson Township departments were notified this week they will be able to purchase wildland firefighting gear. The funds are part of grants totaling over $450,000 that went to 101 volunteer departments and fire territories in 58 counties. The 50/50 matching grants are administered by the Department of Natural Resources' Division of Forestry from funds made available through the U.S. Forest Service.
Cloverdale Township Fire received $5,000, while Jefferson Township Fire will receive $4,785. Jefferson Township posted on its Facebook page the last time it purchased wildfire gear was in 2005 and that was on a grant from FEMA.
"We will be purchasing wildland pants and coats to replace what we currently use. Wildland gear protects our firefighters and is a lot lighter than our regular turnout gear. The grant will not cover enough to get everyone on the fire department new Wildland Gear, but it's a good start," Cloverdale Chief Kerry Shepherd told The Putnam County Post.
Shepherd said his department received a Fire Act Grant for $85,000 last year to purchase 21 complete sets of turnout gear and he is working on getting all of it in service in the next few months.
