Over 60 Tennessee fire departments to receive grant

BOLIVAR, Tenn. — A program created through legislation overseen by Gov. Bill Lee and approved by the Tennessee General Assembly aims to mend the needs of the state’s volunteer firefighters.

Many fire departments across the state need more fire equipment for continued protection when facing fires.

A group effort has led to local volunteer firefighters getting just that.

Tuesday, the Tennessee Department of Commerce & Insurance and the Tennessee State Fire Marshal’s Office announced that 62 volunteer fire departments across the state would be receiving a funds as part of a $1 million volunteer firefighter equipment and training grant program.

More than a handful of the fire departments are in West Tennessee, with one of them being the Bolivar Fire Department.

“It feels great. I’ve been on cloud nine ever since today. I think about 2:30 that Ms. Rice brought the paperwork in to me, showing me this and told me to read this,” said Bolivar Fire Chief Lynn Price. “I really didn’t want to read it because I thought it was a turn down letter because I didn’t know we got the grant. So she said, ‘No, no, read further.’ Read further and I was reading and I said we got the grant.”

Price says the grant was much needed at their station to attain new equipment and turnout gear.

He says the grant will be used for current and future firefighters.

“We’re going to be doing a recruitment out at Walmart this coming Saturday, and if you get volunteers, you need equipment to put them in. So this right here will really, truly, help us buy turnout gear that we can get our firefighters fit for,” Price said.

The $1 million grant will be split among each fire department chosen across the state.

Price says he originally asked for around $23,000 and was granted a little more than $14,000.

He says the fire department is grateful to have received anything.

“They try to make sure it goes evenly across the state; don’t give one station too much. If they ask for some of the stuff, they might come back. They still get some. You may not get everything you ask for, but you know, getting something is better than getting nothing,” Price said.

Price says there is no word on when his department will be receiving the funding.

For a full list of all of the fire departments chosen to receive a grant, click here.

You can find more news from across the state here.