Two volunteer fire departments will be awarded $10,000 each to enhance their hazmat incident preparedness and response.
CHEMTREC®, the world’s leading source of 24/7 call center support and information during hazardous materials incidents, has teamed up with the National Volunteer Fire Council (NVFC) to offer the 2020 CHEMTREC® HELP (Hazmat Emergencies Local Preparedness) Award. Through this program, which is now in its second year, two volunteer fire departments will receive $10,000 each to enhance their response capabilities and increase local readiness for hazardous materials incidents. The application period is open from June 1-September 1.
“We are thrilled to partner with CHEMTREC® again this year,” said NVFC Chair Steve Hirsch. “The HELP award will provide much-needed resources to assist fire departments in preparing and training for hazmat incidents to keep our front-line responders and their communities safe.”
“It was extremely gratifying to provide our first annual 2019 CHEMTREC® HELP Award recipients with the financial support they needed to continue to provide the emergency response support so vital to their communities,” noted CHEMTREC® CEO John Modine. “We look forward to this year’s applicants and award winners, as I am sure they will be exceptional.”
Departments must meet the following requirements to be eligible to apply for the 2020 CHEMTREC® HELP Award:
- Department must be all-volunteer or mostly-volunteer (over 50%).
- Department must serve a population of 25,000 or less.
- Department’s annual revenue must not exceed $250,000 for the most recently completed fiscal year.
- Department must be located in the United States and be legally organized under state law.
- The department chief or individual applying on behalf of the department must be a member of the NVFC. Learn about member benefits and join for just $18 at nvfc.org/join.
- Department must demonstrate their need to receive the $10,000 award.
- Only one application will be accepted per department. Additionally, past recipients of the HELP Award must wait five years before reapplying for the award.
- The departments that receive the award must use the money to increase their department’s hazmat response capabilities and not for any other purpose or redistribution.
- The departments that receive the $10,000 award agree that their department name, details from their application essay, and all photos taken during the award presentation (to be held within 60 days of the award notification) may be used in media by CHEMTREC, TRANSCAER, American Chemistry Council, and the NVFC for the purposes of promoting the award program.
The application period is now OPEN! View full criteria and access the application at https://www.chemtrec.com/emergency-responders/help-award.