Clay Volunteer Fire, Rescue Squad Receive Extra Funding

Eight Clay County Volunteer Fire Departments and the Rescue Squad received an additional $4,000 in funding during Monday night’s county commission meeting.

Clay County Commissioners approved allocating $36,000 in total to the departments and squad because of COVID shutting down fundraising.

County Mayor Dale Reagan said with 35 years of experience as a volunteer fire fighter himself, he knows the standard allocation will not be enough during the pandemic.

“It’s getting hard on them, because they’ve got to continue to keep fuel in those trucks, they got to keep heat to those buildings,” Reagan said. “Then, any kind of breakdowns or anything like that they have, they’ve got to have funding to help do that.”

Reagan said they typically provide $2,500 of allocated funding to each department and the rescue squad. Reagan said this one-time contribution of available money is through the Governor’s Local Support Grants.