East Granby Volunteer Fire Department Awarded State Grant

EAST GRANBY, CT — A total of 38 volunteer fire departments in Connecticut have been selected to share in more than $92,000 worth of grants from the state, including East Granby.

Connecticut's Department of Energy and Environmental Protection (DEEP) said the departments are receiving a Volunteer Fire Capacity Grant (VFC Grant), which will improve firefighting capabilities by
supporting training and equipment purchases. These funds are provided through a federal program that supports fire departments in towns with a population of less than 10,000 people.

East Granby is earmarked for a grant of $2,500.

Since 2001, Congress has authorized VFC funds annually under the Farm Bill. Funding passes from the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) Forest Service to the DEEP Forestry Division, which then awards grants of up to $2,500 to volunteer firefighter projects statewide. A small portion of VFC funds support special training projects in cooperation with the Connecticut Fire Academy in Windsor Locks.

“We are grateful to administer a program that provides a critical supplement to local municipal firefighting budgets," DEEP Commissioner Katie Dykes said. "Ensuring fire preparedness is becoming increasingly important as our state experiences heightened wildfire risk resulting from more frequent extreme weather events like droughts."

In the past 12 years, the DEEP Forestry Division has awarded over $865,000 in VFA/VFC grants to Connecticut fire departments. Applications are scored based on the number of calls the department responded to during the previous year, the town’s insurance rating and whether there is a plan in place to improve their insurance rating, the percentage of the fire department’s budget that is paid for by town taxes, and the department’s recent history of receiving VFA grants.