Applicants can request up to $4,500 per year. Funds can be used to acquire items such as ¾-inch to 1-½ inch forestry hose, safety gear, brush unit pumps/skids, and hand tools. All grants require a 50-50 cost-share match in cash or in-kind services and priority will be given to applicants that have not received funding in the past three years. Last year, seven volunteer fire companies received $23,020 through the VFA grant program to purchase wildfire suppression equipment.  

The 2018 Volunteer Fire Assistance Grant Forms are available online in either  MS Word or PDF format. The application deadline is May 1. No email applications will be accepted. Forms should be mailed to: Kyle Hoyd, Delaware Forest Service, 2320 S. DuPont Highway, Dover, Delaware 19901

Construction for the new station is expected to take about six months.  

We're told they may move into a temporary trailer until the new station opens, but no final decision has yet been made.

The price is a little more than $901,000, which is a savings of about $15,000 from the original cost.  

The Village Board on Monday voted to buy the truck on the condition that the Town Board also supports the purchase. The town is picking up 77 percent of the cost, with the village shouldering the remainder. Those percentages are based on the assessed value of the two communities.

The department had planned to buy a 70-foot Sutphen demonstrator aerial truck for almost $893,000. But town and village officials were concerned that only one bid was received.

The 2018 rescue truck features a powerful light on-par with a fire truck.  

Up until now, when police on a night call required additional lighting at a crime scene, fire trucks were the only emergency vehicles equipped with a light source that met the need.

That not only takes a fire truck out of service, Pedersen said, it's also expensive to fuel a truck of that size. The 2018 rescue truck will be able to perform the task at a fraction of the cost, he said.