One Greene County volunteer fire department will soon be getting some new equipment and another will be getting a new training tower facility thanks to grants awarded to some of Indiana’s rural and volunteer fire departments by the Indiana Department of Natural Resources (DNR).

Taylor Fire & Rescue and Center-Jackson Fire Territory have both been awarded grants of $5,000.

The recipients of the grants, called DNR Volunteer Fire Assistance Grants, were announced by DNR Director Cameron Clark on Tuesday, July 17. The grants are administered by the DNR Division of Forestry and made available through the U.S. Department of Agriculture Forest Service.

Grants may be used for training, installation of dry hydrants or to purchase necessary firefighting equipment and gear to combat wildland fires.

The grants awarded, ranging from $1,225 to a maximum of $5,000, were given to 64 departments. The two Greene County departments received maximum grants.

Both Taylor Fire & Rescue and Center-Jackson Fire Territory are planning to spend their awards on much-needed equipment, or training equipment, purchases.

Taylor Fire Chief Randy Baker expressed gratitude on behalf of his department for this award.

“I want to thank DNR,” said Baker. “These grants make a big difference for a department our size.”

Baker said there are currently 15 firefighters who volunteer their time to serve with Taylor Fire & Rescue.

“These guys work hard,” said Baker.

Chief Baker said they plan to update radios including the purchase of a new mobile radio and three handheld radios plus they will be purchasing “scene lights” which will be used on night runs and are especially helpful on crash scenes. They will be updating lights on their support truck.

Center-Jackson Fire Chief Jeremy Inman said this grant of $5,000 will be equally matched by local money giving them a total of $10,000 to spend.

Since Center-Jackson has been focusing on providing increased training for its own personnel as well as providing training opportunities for personnel from surrounding departments, the money is going to be spent on a training tower.

“We’re going to get a multi-use training tower facility that can be used for training on ladders, on rope rescues, work with SCBAs (Self-Contained Breathing Apparatus) and ventilation,” said Inman.

A training tower of this type can be used in practice for many different scenarios that a firefighter or rescuer might face.

Inman said the roster at Center-Jackson Fire Territory currently includes 24 firefighters.

“Of those 24, six are state-certified instructors,” said Inman, adding they have training sessions going on now and more planned in the future.

The planned training tower facility will be approximately 16-feet by 16-feet on the ground but will stand three stories tall.

To award these grants, DNR Forestry staff reviewed grant applications and selected recipients on the basis of population density, acres of public wildlands protected and wildland fire reporting to DNR Fire Control Headquarters.

If any other fire departments are interested in applying for these grants, they should contact Mark Huter, acting program coordinator, DNR Fire Control Headquarters, 6220 Forest Road, Martinsville, IN, 46151, or call 765-342-4701.

In this round of grants, more than $284,000 in DNR Volunteer Fire Assistance Grants was awarded to:

List shows department, amount of grant, county and main purpose of award