$5,000 gift to La Salle County EMA to assist first responders

The La Salle County Emergency Management Agency announced Wednesday that it has been awarded $5,000 from the Alliance Pipeline Fueling Futures grant program.

Through this collaboration, the La Salle County EMA and Alliance Pipeline are energizing communities through initiatives that strengthen community safety, vibrancy and sustainability, the EMA said in a news release.

“The grant funds will be used to further develop our volunteer capabilities to better assist first responders in our communities and to build capacity for disaster response,” EMA Director Fred Moore said.

The EMA relies on volunteers to assist in its mission of providing residents, businesses and local units of government the education, resources and support necessary to reduce the loss of life and human suffering, minimize property damage and protect environmentally sensitive areas from all types of disasters.

“Without generous donations like this, we would not be able to provide some of the services that we offer,” Moore said. “The EMA budget when I started in 2011 was well over $300,000. Currently, even with the costs of goods and services increasing, we operate at less than $180,000 annually, of which 45% is funded by state and federal grants.”

The Fueling Futures grant from Alliance Pipeline will be used to offset the cost of outfitting a volunteer response vehicle with necessary safety and radio equipment as well as buying supplies needed for volunteers to effectively complete their requested tasks.

In addition to assisting the first responder community, the field service unit is tasked with assisting with community outreach events and disaster damage assessments, with hopes to include a disaster shelter management component.

The ground search-and-rescue unit assists law enforcement in locating lost individuals and the search for evidence.

All volunteers have a rigorous training requirement that must be met before being eligible to be deployed in the field. To date, 20 agency volunteers have provided well over 1,000 hours of service to the county.

“We are on pace to nearly triple the amount of volunteer service hours that were completed in all of 2022,” EMA Deputy Director Corban Flynn said.

To learn more about the La Salle County Emergency Management Agency, visit www.lasallecountyema.org.