The City of Wildwood Fire Department (WFD) was recently awarded $16,461 from FEMA’s Assistance to Firefighters (AFG) COVID-19 Supplemental Grant Program, for the purchase of personal protective equipment.
The AFG is one of the nation’s most competitive grant programs with only about 20% awarded each year out of approximately 12,000 applications. The COVID-19 Supplemental Round was enough tougher, with FEMA expecting to award only about 1,000 grants nationwide.
Although Wildwood’s year-round population is only about 5,300 people, making it the 366th smallest municipality (in terms of population) in the state out of 565 towns, the influx of visitors from Memorial Day to Labor Day swells the daily population to over 250,000, making Wildwood the 2nd most populated municipality in the entire state – second only to Newark with 277,000 residents.
While at the time of the application Cape May County had just 424 confirmed COVID cases, the WFD recognized that the summer tourist season and growth in population would bring with it an increased exposure to the virus by residents, visitors and our personnel alike.
To help make this case for funding to FEMA, the WFD turned to Triad Associates to write the successful application.
Under the AFG COVID-19 Supplemental Grant, the WFD will be purchasing goggles, respirators and filters, coveralls, and gloves to help keep personnel and the public safe during service calls.
With this award, and over the past 4 years, Triad has written successful grants for the WFD totaling more than $1.4 million for vehicle acquisition, equipment purchases, hiring firefighters and more.
