WASHINGTON (October 2, 2009)—Today, Congressman Ben Chandler joined Mayor Gary Williamson at City Hall in Mt. Sterling to announce $1.1 million in recovery funds to rebuild Fire Station #1.
The station was destroyed in a fire on September 17, 2007, after three firefighters had returned from a call for the night. Since the fire, Montgomery County has helped pick up the service area that Fire Station #1 covered.
“I am so proud to be here and am so proud of this community,” Chandler said. “This grant today is a good chunk of the total requested funds, and these grants aren’t easy to get. Mt. Sterling has done such a great job with this project, and I can’t wait to see the fire station back in business.”
Of the estimated $1.45-million-dollar cost to rebuild the station, $1.1 million will come from the federal funding announced by Chandler, and the remainder will be matched by the City of Mt. Sterling. The site being considered for the new fire station building is where the Ken’s Market and the Mt. Sterling Meatpacking Company buildings, now abandoned, were located.
“On behalf of the citizens of Mt. Sterling, we are truly grateful to receive this funding,” Mayor Williamson said. “Without this grant award it would have been impossible to build a fire station to meet our current needs.”
The Mt. Sterling grant was awarded as part of the economic recovery package—or the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA)—through the Department of Homeland Security (DHS). In choosing award recipients, DHS gives priority to “shovel-ready” projects which can be put into action quickly and meet security needs.
Nationally, $166 million in grants were awarded for departments to build new or modify existing fire stations to enhance response capabilities and protect communities from fire-related hazards. However, other than the Mt. Sterling grant, only one other fire station construction grant was awarded in Kentucky: $3.3 million for the Louisville Fire Department.
“This isn’t just a construction project,” Chandler said. “With the new building site and these recovery funds, we are revitalizing a section of Mt. Sterling and doing what the recovery package was supposed to do… create local jobs, strengthen our communities, and strengthen our local economies.”
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