City of Colorado Springs - FEMA Awards $1.1 Million Grant to Fire Department
PIO Contact: Christina Randall - crandall@springsgov.com
COLORADO SPRINGS, CO, July 19, 2010 - The U.S. Department of Homeland Security's Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) and Colorado Division of Emergency Management today released $1,117,481 in Pre-Disaster Mitigation (PDM) funds to the Colorado Springs Fire Department for wildfire mitigation projects throughout Colorado Springs.
PDM provides grants to state and local governments to implement long term mitigation measures. Through this Pre-Disaster Mitigation grant, FEMA will pay 75 percent of the project costs. The remaining costs will be met by neighborhood matching and Public Safety Sales Tax in the form of labor, volunteer projects and neighborhood involvement.
"These projects directly benefit residents and the community as a whole by reducing wildfire risk before a fire starts" said Christina Randall, Wildfire Mitigation Section Manager for the Colorado Springs Fire Department. "This additional funding will help reduce the potential for life and property loss."
These funds will be used for fuels management projects in common areas and open spaces adjacent to neighborhoods identified as at-risk for wildfire. These projects will also serve as demonstration areas for homeowners who want to address mitigation on their own property. The Colorado Springs Wildfire Mitigation Section has been successful on several PDM grants over the years totaling more than $2.3 million.
"We're very fortunate that funding has become available to assist our community in addressing wildfire risk" said Brett Lacey, Colorado Springs Fire Marshal. "These projects will do a lot to reduce fire behavior in a wildfire event."
FEMA's mission is to support our citizens and first responders to ensure that as a nation we work together to build, sustain, and improve our capability to prepare for, protect against, respond to, recover from, and mitigate all hazards.
