Gary Sinise Foundation awards $58,000 grant to OFD

OKTIBBEHA COUNTY, Miss. (WCBI) – Fighting fires takes a lot of money, and for counties, that money can sometimes be hard to come by.

Most departments, especially volunteer fire departments, lean on grants to help provide needed equipment.

The Gary Sinise Foundation recently awarded a $58,000 grant to the Oktibbeha Volunteer Fire Department.

The foundation provides grants for training and equipment.

In Oktibbeha County, the volunteers not only fight fires, but also answer medical calls.

The equipment they’ll be able to buy will help perform both jobs.

“Not only the firefighting equipment, like the hoses and the turnout gear, but these AEDs really come in handy. You know we don’t just respond to fires. We respond to every call in the county. So, in an emergency call, if somebody’s having a heart attack or a stroke, we have our AEDs and our medical equipment, and that costs just as much as the firefighting equipment,” said Oktibbeha Fire Coordinator Patrick Warner.

The Gary Sinise Foundation Grant is very competitive. Nationwide, they award about 3 million dollars a year.

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