Grant funds fire department’s new sign, medical equipment
MVFD President Lee Bailey (left) receives a check for $25,000 from Bill Heatherington of the BEC. BULLETIN PHOTO/Tracy Thayer
The Medina Volunteer Fire Department received a $25,000 grant from the Lower Colorado River Authority and Bandera Electric Cooperative to purchase and install an electronic digital sign for the firehouse and to purchase additional medical equipment for the department.
The grant will be combined with $6,500 in matching funds from the Fire Department.
The sign will be used to warn citizens of dangerous conditions like burn bans or red flag warnings, report whether there is an emergency developing like a flood warning and provide a place to view community announcements.
The grant money will also be used to purchase three more Automatic Electronic Defibrillators (AED’s) for the department.
“Receiving this grant is huge,” said MVFD President Lee Bailey. “We’ve wanted a digital sign for years because sometimes people aren’t aware of fire-related notices, or they need to be reminded. It will save the fire department from dealing with fires that shouldn’t have been set during burn bans or red flag warnings.”
Bailey expects the sign to be up by the end of summer. Right now, the MVFD is working with Bandera Electric Cooperative to run power out to the sign location.
“In the last eight years, we have made tremendous strides in adding new equipment,” Bailey said. “We run a real tight fiscal policy and are debt free, but our training and membership has gone up and without this grant it would have been a while before we could afford these critical purchases.”
The LCRA‘s Community Development Partnership Program helps volunteer fire departments, local governments, emergency responders and non-profit organizations fund capital improvement projects. 25 grants were funded this cycle in multiple counties across Texas.