06.15.16

Durbin Announces More Than $1.2 Millioin in Federal Funding for Illinois First-Responders

[WASHINGTON, DC] – U.S. Senator Dick Durbin (D-IL) announced today that the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), part of the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), has awarded $1,231,184 in grants to fire departments and municipalities throughout Illinois.
  
“This federal funding will ensure that when fires or other emergencies occur in our communities, our nation’s firefighters and first-responders have access to the best resources and the equipment necessary to help protect them as they protect us,” Durbin said.
  
Under this announcement, the following fire departments and protection districts will receive funding for operations and safety:
  

  • Hillside Fire Department (Hillside, Illinois): $60,000 in funding;
  • Taylorville Fire Department (Taylorville, Illinois): $23,781 in funding;
  • Villa Park Fire Department (Villa Park, Illinois): $189,564 in funding;
  • Burbank Fire Department (Burbank, Illinois): $218,773 in funding;
  • Pleasantview Fire Protection District (LaGrange Highlands, Illinois): $100,000 in funding;
  • Monroe County Ambulance (Waterloo, Illinois): $31,746 in funding;
  • City of Country Club Hills Fire Department (Country Club Hills, Illinois): $223,429 in funding;
  • Eureka-Goodfield Fire Protection District (Eureka, Illinois): $107,267 in funding;
  • Godfrey Fire Protection District (Godfrey, Illinois): $23,572 in funding;
  • Park Forest Fire Department (Park Forest, Illinois): $218,960 in funding;
  • Glenwood Fire Department (Glenwood, Illinois): $16,949 in funding;
  • Nokomis Area Fire Protection District (Nokomis, Illinois): $17,143 in funding.

 
The funding is provided through the DHS’s Assistance to Firefighters Grant (AFG) Program which seeks to strengthen the nation’s overall level of preparedness and ability to respond to fire and fire related hazards. Since 2001, the AFG has provided approximately $6.4 billion in federal funding to first-responder organizations across the country to help purchase response equipment, personal protective equipment, training, and vehicles. In Fiscal Year 2015, the program will award approximately $306 million nationwide.