Firefighter Grants

The Department of Conservation and Recreation awarded funding for wildfire-related projects to the towns of Chilmark and Edgartown.

The grants of up to $2,000 are matched two-to-one by each community.

The goal is to increase their fire readiness and protection of both their firefighters and residents, according to the department’s commissioner Richard K. Sullivan Jr.

The program reimburses nonprofit call or volunteer fire departments that provide service primarily to a community with a population of 10,000 or less. Firefighters on call are paid when they are summoned to fight a fire; volunteers are not paid. To qualify for the grants, fire departments must be made up of at least 80 per cent call or volunteer firefighters and be recognized as a department under state law.