Mobile Fire-Rescue to Receive $1.9 Million Federal Grant

Sep 24th, 2009

Officials with the City of Mobile and Fire-Rescue Department were notified Thursday, September 24, 2009 they will be awarded a FY 2009 American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA) Fire Station Construction Grant (SCG) for $1,952,763.00.

These funds will be allocated to build a new fire station in the Theodore area which will improve the department’s ability to promptly respond to emergencies in that area.

Mayor Sam Jones stated, "I am extremely happy we were selected. The new fire station is part of our commitment to enhance fire capabilities in the city and the police jurisdiction. We are building a state-of-the-art station near the Airport and this grant will allow us to develop the same type of facility in the Theodore area. I commend the diligence of the Mobile Fire-Rescue Department in securing this grant."

Fire Chief Steve Dean also stated, “Thanks to the hard work of my staff we have been successful in this effort. I am excited about being awarded the ARRA Fire Station Construction Grant, to be included in this group of communities is truly an honor and I feel truly blessed. This will allow us to fulfill the goal of providing adequate service to an area of our community which has been under served for many years. We look forward to the completion of this most needed project and the enhancement it will provide to our delivery system.”

“This funding will be used to bring better service and response to Theodore. We ask a lot of our firefighters and important grants like this help us ensure they have what they need to serve the public good.” Alabama Homeland Security Director Jim Walker said.

The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, signed into law by President Obama on February 19, is designed to jumpstart the U.S. economy, create or save millions of jobs and address national needs—while supporting unprecedented levels of transparency, oversight and accountability. The purpose of the FY 2009 ARRA SCG is to improve response capability/capacity based on need through the construction, renovation or modification of fire stations.

There were 6,025 applications to the ARRA program for new Fire Station Construction a total of $9.9 billion. Mobile Fire-Rescue was one of 104 grants that were actually awarded totaling $165,688,982.00 which is 1.7% of the amount asked for.