Four Montgomery County-area first responder agencies were recently awarded American Rescue Plan Act funds to help with new equipment, supplies, personnel and training.

The Montgomery County Ambulance District and the New Florence Fire Protection District each received a $20,000 grant. The Jonesburg-High Hill Fire Protection District was awarded a $18,750 grant and the Montgomery County Sheriff’s Office got a $6,298.05 grant.

Dave Colbert of the Ambulance District said his staff was approved for the grant on May 4.

“Standalone EMS agencies like ours and which make up the largest portion of Missouri’s ambulance districts are usually not eligible for a lot of grants,” Colbert said. “So this is one of the first times that they segregated us out as an emergency medical service provider to receive and to be eligible for grants and have funds available.”

Colbert said the district will use the money to update its patient care reporting system.

“Each one of our trucks and our ambulances have a laptop in them,” Colbert said. “All medical patient records are kept electronically rather than a paper format. We’ve been using used and refurbished equipment for that since 2015 or 2016. This is an opportunity for us to upgrade to faster, better and newer equipment that is rugged and made to be taken in the field because our computers go everywhere with us.”

John Woods, fire chief of the Jonesburg-High Hill Fire Protection District, said he was thrilled that his staff was selected to receive the ARPA grant.

“We’re very appreciative of the state for coming to the fire service and finding a way to meet some funding for agencies that are really needed,” Woods said. “We put in tarmac gear, which is our firefighter protective gear that we wear as individuals. We typically buy a couple of these a year. A lot of our tarmac gears are over 10 years old. So this is a way in which we really try to catch up and get some of our members protected whenever they go to fires to help our citizens.”

On April 20, the Missouri Department of Public Safety approved 48 grants totaling over $6.3 million to law enforcement, fire service and EMS providers across the state for equipment such as patrol vehicles, mobile data terminals, firefighter turnout gear, extrication equipment, cardiac monitors and emergency communications radios.

“Meeting with first responders and traveling to disaster scenes across the state, we know how essential it is that these devoted public servants have the essential equipment and training they need to do their jobs,” Missouri Gov. Mike Parson said. “These grants mean law enforcement officers, firefighters and EMS personnel will be better equipped in performing their lifesaving work and protecting the public.”

There are 106 law enforcement agencies, 224 fire service agencies and 98 emergency medical service providers that were awarded grants. The maximum grant amount to recipients was $20,000.