'Big Blow': Wellston Fire Department loses $55k state grant to purchase new truck
WELLSTON, Okla. (KFOR) — A rural fire department is struggling as it prepares for wildfire season.
The Wellston Fire Department worked around the clock last year responding to wildfires; unfortunately, not all of their equipment made it.
"We blew a motor in a truck, and so that truck, you know, was catastrophic failure," said Chief Todd Beesley, Wellston Fire Department.
In an effort to replace equipment like that, Oklahoma lawmakers set aside nearly $7 million for a grant program specifically for rural fire departments.
The Wellston Fire Department applied and even got a letter saying they were selected and were being awarded $55,000.
"When we have these big wildfires, you need everything that you can get," said Chief Beesley.
But a few weeks later, Chief Beesley said that money was ripped away.
"There was concerns larger departments had received the funding that operated on larger budgets," said Chief Beesley.
The Oklahoma Department of Agriculture, Food and Forestry (ODAFF) then paused the program to develop a plan to address those issues.
"Pausing the program allowed us to review the process from start to finish and we developed a stronger plan for communicating the grant opportunity with departments and reviewing applications. Following the pause, we restarted the program, which meant all departments had the opportunity to reapply or apply for the first time if they missed the original window," said a spokesperson for ODAFF.
"It pushed us out of the running for that truck that we desperately needed," said Chief Beesley.
Chief Beesley believes they shouldn't have opened the grant back up for new applications and awarded the original pool first.
He says without that extra funding, they don't have the money to purchase a new truck.
"We operate on a budget of about $12,750 annually," said Chief Beesley.
As wildfire season nears, the department only has two grass rigs.
"At the moment we're operating with one because one is in the shop for some repair," said Chief Beesley.
That grant would've allowed them to have three.
"Apparatus is vital, it gets us there and it does, you know, it's our tools that we use, so it was a big blow," said Chief Beesley.
ODAFF says there were 59 departments selected to receive the grant funding in the original rollout that were not selected in the re-issue following the updated process.