CIRCLEVILLE – Mickey Smith of Ohio First Responder Grants, LLC has successfully roped in another big grant for Circleville that will replace aging equipment and keep the department within National requirements, and this is only one of five he has helped get awarded to just Circleville over they years.
Aging Equipment has plagued many rural first responder departments as small communities struggle to pay for full time EMS and fire protection services all over the state. Help from a Ohio group that aims to find funding for these shortcomings through government grants has been a lifeline for Pickaway County.
Thompson reported that a grant that was started last year with Circleville Fire Chief Brian Thompson has netted 591,500 dollars to build brand new Engine that will replace aging equipment. The city of Circleville does have a match of 5% of that cost or around 28,000 dollars.
Chief Thompson said that the grant was a commutative effort between himself, Captain Cavanaugh, Micky Smith, and City Safety Director Terry Frazier and couldn’t have been successful without their help. Thompson said that they will now start a build process with a spec engine/rescue combination apparatus. They will over the next months bring in several equipment manufacturers that will demo their products. Then they will go into a competitive bid process based on Circlevilles needs.
“Mickey’s company as always did an amazing job of facilitating our grant process,” said the Chief.
This isn’t the first grant that Ohio First Responder Grants, LLC has secured for Circleville, according to Mickey they have secured around a million dollars of funding for the city alone that consists of another new truck, air paks, and other equipment. Mickey’s help has expanded to Pickaway Township also with their newest firetruck, and now he has told me he has secured another grant for them as well for replacement of major equipment.
Listen as Mickey explains the process, talks about his company and background.
