CLEARFIELD – Citizens and emergency responders in Clearfield County received good news on Friday in the form of a grant totaling $820,000. A press conference was held Friday morning to announce the grant, with emergency management agency, county and state officials on hand.
The money will be used to purchase and upgrade emergency responder equipment.
“This is a great day for Clearfield County and emergency responders throughout the county,” said Clearfield County Commissioner Chairman Joan Robinson-McMillen.
McMillen said that the commissioners are very proud of the emergency responders across the county.
“It’s certainly a welcome change of pace to welcome this grant,” said state Rep. Camille “Bud” George, D-74 Houtzdale.
George said the grant will help protect nearly all residents of the county. He also congratulated EMA Director Josh Quigley and his staff and the commissioners on their hard work in acquiring the grant.
“This grant spans many differences and divides,” said George. “Many thanks are due to many people.”
“This is going to do a lot to make the county safer,” said Commissioner John Sobel.
Quigley addressed those gathered and said that Clearfield County had the 38th highest grant total awarded nationally out of over 4,000 Assistance to Firefighters grants awarded.
“It’s something to be very impressed with,” said Commissioner Mark McCracken.
Quigley said the grant is composed of $656,000 in federal funds and $164,000 in county matching funds. That grant money, with additional funds, will be used to complete the proposed project.
According to Quigley’s press release:
“Part one of this grant marks the start of a great project for Clearfield County emergency responders. We are upgrading our microwave link to our main tower from the 911 Center to a digital microwave system. This will greatly increase the amount of data we can send to our main tower from the 911 Center to rebroadcast to our responders, as well s increase the reliability of the system. This infrastructure is vital to the second part of the grant as well.
“The second part of the grant is an award of 125 mobile data terminals. These are in-vehicle computers that provide emergency responders with critical data in real-time. They will have a link to the computer aided dispatch program used at 911. State-of-the-art county mapping will also be included in these computers. These computers will be placed with every emergency response agency in the county.
“This increase in information sharing will help to increase both responder and citizen safety.
“The Clearfield County Department of Emergency Management award from the Department of Homeland Security’s Assistance to Firefighters grant is the 38th highest in the nation. To date 4,636 awards have been issued nationally.
“Clearfield County would like to recognize the following people for making both the grant and this project possible. The County Board of Commissioners, state Rep. Camille “Bud” George, former Congressman John Peterson, Congressman Bill Shuster, Sen. John Wozniak, Sen. Arlen Specter, Sen. Don White, former state Rep. Dan Surra, Clearfield County District Attorney William A. Shaw Jr. and many others.”
Quigley said the updates will take about a year to fully implement.
“The end result will be better protection for our citizens and greater protection for our responders,” said Quigley.