Muskingum County EMA Receives Grant

The Muskingum County Emergency Management Agency recently received an important grant.

It came through the Department of Homeland Security. The grant was applied for through the State of Ohio EMA and was a competitive process between Ohio’s 88 counties. Director of the Muskingum County EMA, Bo Keck told us what the money will go toward.

"There’s a little over $100,000 for training. So we will be training first responders. Fire and EMS personnel, within the 11 counties for this and then its to update the equipment. This equipment that’s out there was purchased back in 2003, 2004 and really it hasn’t been updated since them because no one had the funds."

The money will be used in the 11 counties in the Southeast region of Ohio. Meetings have been held with the region over the last several months to discuss how to deal with the fact the haz mat equipment needed to be updated. Keck explains the importance of the grant in this situation.

"It’s very important because its hard to maintain this equipment. I mean Homeland Security was great in putting out all this equipment back in 2003 but they did not give money to maintain it and oversee it. So it’s a great opportunity for us to be able to update the equipment, keep up the training and keep the equipment in this region in case we need it."

The grant is worth a little over $347,000. It is the first time in three years the Muskingum County EMA was awarded the money applied for.