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The Troup County Fire Department has been awarded a state grant to provide funds to teach a basic EMT course.

When requesting to apply for the Georgia Emergency Medical Services Association grant, Fire Chief Michael Strickland said the funds will help them provide training that all firefighters are required to have.

“One of the requirements to be a Troup County Firefighter is to have your firefighter certification as well as your basic EMT certification,” Strickland said.

“We have to shop around every time we get ready to have a basic EMT class, whether we’re using AMR to do classes or we’ve talked to the City of LaGrange about it, we definitely go outside the borders of Troup County trying to find classes,” he said.

Strickland the grant will allow TCFD to host and teach basic EMT courses and pay for everything needed.

“It pays for pretty much everything involved to have the class, buy the books and materials, and pay the instructors,” Strickland said.

The grant will pay for a minimum of 12 trainees and a maximum of 25. TCFD plans to open the training up to LaGrange and West Point as long as they provide equipment and help with instructors.

The grant will provide $1,700 per student up to a maximum of $5,800, depending on the number of students.

Capt. Rodney Evans said the book fees are $150, which the grant will reimburse within 30 to 45 days.

“Our guys we’re having to come out of pocket and then once they completed the class and certification we would reimburse them. This year we will keep that from happening. Our guys, our firefighters won’t have to come out of pocket for any expense other than their time,” Evans said.