U.S. Congressman Spencer Bachus, R-Alabama, announced last week that Cedar Grove Fire Department and the Jemison Fire Department were awarded federal fire grants.

“Chilton County residents are fortunate to have excellent fire departments dedicated to saving lives and protecting property,” Bachus said in a release. “These grants will help the Cedar Grove Fire Department and the Jemison Fire Department to continue to provide outstanding service to the communities they serve. Our first responders make great sacrifices for us and need the proper resources to effectively respond to emergency calls and provide for their own personal safety.”

Cedar Grove Fire Department received a $44,522 operations and safety grant for the purchase of extrication tools and new equipment.

Cedar Grove Fire Department Chief Adam Price said in a release, “It is great for the Cedar Grove Fire Department to be able to receive this assistance. It will be used to buy extrication tools and other new equipment for our fire department. We have been fortunate to be selected to receive grants from this program.”

Jemison Fire Department received a $20,073 operations and safety grant to replace outdated equipment including old fire hoses, fire appliances and other equipment.

“The Jemison Fire Department is very thankful to receive this grant,” Dennis said in a release. “It will allow us to replace older hoses and other fire equipment with new and modern equipment. We appreciate Bachus’ support of our department and all fire departments.”

Dennis said Monday he applied for the grant in the fall of 2012 but FEMA delayed awarding grants due to Hurricane Sandy slowing down the process.

“This will be a tremendous thing for the JFD because we will be able to replace some older equipment we own,” Dennis said.

FEMA will cover $20,703 of the grant and the city of Jemison will pay $1,089. The Assistance to Firefighters (AFG) program is used to meet the firefighting and emergency needs of fire departments and nonaffiliated medical services organizations. Only the applications most closely conforming to program priorities are considered and scored by peer review panels.

The U.S. Department of Homeland Security administers the program and Dennis said being approved for the grant is “very competitive.”

“We are extremely fortunate the peer review panels who were determining who should receive this money recognized a need at Jemison Fire Department,” Dennis said. “We will use this money to replace some fire hoses that we have had for a long time that we haven’t had the money previously to spend on replacing them.”