Please see below and contact your local PA Representative and PA State Senator and urge them to approve HB955. This bill reauthorizes the PA Fire Grant which provides approximately $12,000 - $15,000 in grant money to Fire & EMS Agencies on an annual basis. The Barren Hill Volunteer Fire Company has been a proud recipient of this Grant Award several years in the past and most recently for 2011; which will allow us to purchase Water Rescue equipment to better serve our Community in that capacity.
HB955 would extend the VFCVASGP, (Volunteer Fire Company Volunteer Ambulance Service Grant Program) which is set to expire on June 30, 2012, through the end of June 2016. With the amendment approved by the committee, the total available funding in future years would increase from $25 million to $40 million. Funding for the program does not come from the state's General Fund, but is distributed from the State Gaming Fund. This is not a Republican or Democrat issue, this is a Bi-partisan issue, that should be supported on both sides of the floor to help our Volunteers.
If you are a firefighter or EMS provider in PA or support the Fire/EMS Service, it's vital that we all contact each elected official in PA and tell them we need their support of HB955 which is the reauthorization of the Fire grant. This bill will also give stand alone QRS services like Columbia QRS the opportunity to receive funding via the grant bill. Without this bill many departments will be faced with the cut of approximately $12-15,000 per department in revenue. This bill helps all of us, from the residents of PA to each and every fire/ems provider.
Please take a moment and contact your elected officials now and urge them to approve HB955 which is vital to the Volunteer Fire & EMS Sevice in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania! Please feel free to pass this along to family and friends or anyone in your neighborhoods that are supporters of the Fire/EMS service and all that we do.
Thanks for everyones continued support of all that we do
Chris Schwartz
Fire Chief, Barren Hill Volunteer Fire Company
610-825-2250
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For those of you in the local area, below are the links for the website of our local Representatives / Senators that serve our area. Each can be emailed from that site. There is also links to every Representative / Senator if you are in another district.
Representative Michael Gerber
http://www.legis.state.pa.us/cfdocs/legis/home/member_information/house_bio.cfm?districtnumber=148
Representative Matthew Bradford
http://www.legis.state.pa.us/cfdocs/legis/home/member_information/house_bio.cfm?districtnumber=70
Senator Vincent Hughes
http://www.legis.state.pa.us/cfdocs/legis/home/member_information/senate_bio.cfm?districtnumber=7
Senator Daylen Leach
http://www.legis.state.pa.us/cfdocs/legis/home/member_information/senate_bio.cfm?districtnumber=17
Email Listing of ALL Senators
http://www.legis.state.pa.us/cfdocs/legis/home/member_information/email_list.cfm?body=S
Email listing of ALL Representatives
http://www.legis.state.pa.us/cfdocs/legis/home/member_information/email_list.cfm?body=H
