Fire department, ambulance corps getting $50K apiece

State grants of $50,000 each have been awarded to the fire department and ambulance squad in this town of Shawangunk hamlet, according to state Sen. Jen Metzger.

The grant for the Wallkill Volunteer Ambulance Corps will help pay for an emergency response vehicle. The grant for the Wallkill Fire District will fund the purchase a generator for the new firehouse that is under construction, said Metzger, D-Rosendale.

The grants are coming from the State and Municipal Facilities Capital Program.

Metzger said in a prepared statement that the ambulance squad plays “a vital role in protecting health and safety, responding to some 300 calls a year, and this $50,000 grant will help them afford the equipment they need during this [COVID-19] pandemic and beyond.”

Of the fire district funding, Metzger said: “This is an important resilience project that will not only support the work of first responders but will also enable the firehouse to become an emergency shelter when needed.”

Wallkill Fire District Commissioner Anne K. Barnhart said in a prepared statement that the generator “will provide emergency power to the building in the event of community power outages, and/or natural disasters. This also will allow the firehouse to serve as an emergency shelter for the residents of our community.”

Metzger is in her first term representing New York’s 42nd Senate District (parts of Ulster, Delaware, Sullivan and Orange counties). She is seeking re-election this fall in a race against Westtown Republican Mike Martucci.