The Piedmont Fire Department was recently informed that they have been awarded a Safer Grant from FEMA.

It’s a Volunteer Retention grant in the amount of $600,000 which will be funded over a four year period beginning this summer (2014).

That grant will allow the department to hire one full-time firefighter who will serve as a retention officer / will provide NFPA approved physical exams for all volunteers / will provide funding to help reimburse volunteers for all calls answered and drills attended and will allow the department to use current certified members by bringing in two members to cover a 12-hour shift each night, and reimburse them for those shifts.

Fire Chief Mike Ledbetter told WEIS Radio News that these grants are highly competitive – and Piedmont is only the second department in the state to be awarded this type grant.