As stated in another article, Danbury Farm Supply on behalf of the ConAgra Foundation has awarded the Danbury Fire Department a grant in the amount of $15,000.00.  The grant is to be used towards the purchase of a new fire truck.  As you all know, fire trucks are very expensive and a new fire truck for Danbury will cost somewhere around $165,000.00.  In addition to the ConAgra grant, we have submitted a grant with the USDA that if awarded, would cover a substantial amount of the dollars that yet need to be raised.  If the grant were not awarded this year, we will once again try next year through the USDA and also through several other sources.  We are expecting to hear the outcome of the grant by the end of September.

As most of you have read, the Danbury Fire Department was also awarded nearly $72,000.00 in federal funds from the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) to increase the effectiveness of fire operations and to support fire fighter safety.  Members of the department spent more than 60 hours preparing the application.  The grant was written for personal protective equipment, self-contained breathing apparatus (SCBA), a compressor to fill the SCBA cylinders, wildland gear (used for fighting grass fire), portable two-way radios, and training equipment.  The total grant package was for $79,519.00.  The federal government is providing 90% while the Danbury Fire Department must come up with the remaining 10%, which amounts to $7,951.00.  This money will be coming from fire department reserves.

It is important to note that the funds from the DHS must be used for firefighting gear and equipment and may not be used towards the purchase of a truck.  We applied for a truck in 2001 and 2002, but were unsuccessful.  Fire truck grants are very competitive.  Out of the 157 departments in Iowa who were awarded grants last year, only 9 were awarded grants for fire trucks.  Based on these statistics, the members of the department re-evaluated the needs of our department and decided to turn our attention to the Fire Operations and Firefighter Safety part of the DHS grant program.  We knew that in addition to the fire truck that we were in dire need of some firefighting equipment and that is what the grant was written for.

The members of the department are very excited about these recent grants and we hope the community is as well.  They are both great accomplishments for both the department and the community.