TUNNELTON, W.Va. (WBOY) — Other than a few city departments, almost all of the fire departments in north central West Virginia are volunteer, and although it’s not much, one Preston County department is hoping that a grant to pay its volunteers $5 per hour will help its retention rate.
The Tunnelton Volunteer Fire Department received a grant worth $85,680 that was announced by Sen. Joe Manchin’s office on Thursday. On Friday, the department announced on its Facebook page that the funding will go toward a four-year program to pay volunteers $5/hour while they are on call or doing trainings at the firehouse.
“1 step closer to helping our active members and hope to gain some new ones,” the post said. It continued, “[It’s] not much, but will help with gas money from running back and forth from the firehouse.”
According to Manchin’s office, funding is from Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) through the Staffing for Adequate Fire and Emergency Response (SAFER) is designated for increasing the number of firefighters in that community.
The funding will strengthen emergency preparedness across our great state and I look forward to seeing the positive impacts of these investments,” Sen. Manchin said in his release.
Although excited about the opportunity, the Tunnelton Volunteer Fire Department said it “can only imagine what paperwork comes with doing it.”
The fire department will have to submit several documents to the U.S. Department of Homeland Security before the monies are awarded.
