US Rep. Glenn Thompson announces $2.2M in funding for local emergency services

U.S. Rep. Glenn Thompson, R-Howard, announced Tuesday at Howard Fire Company that nearly $2.2 million in federal funding would be awarded to two local emergency services agencies for a new vehicle and a yearslong project.

According to Thompson, who was on-hand for a press conference, Howard Fire Company will receive $98,653 to replace the company’s 25-year-old jet boat used in river and flood rescues. The Moshannon Valley Emergency Medical Services agency near Philipsburg will receive significantly more — $2,074,716 in total — to construct a new EMS headquarters to house equipment, staff, vehicles and a highly-anticipated training center.

The funds were secured through Community Project Funding grants, which were approved in an appropriations package included in the U.S. House of Representative’s bill to open the government. The grants are set to be used for the 2026 fiscal year.

“These community leaders here have worked so hard and have had such a vision — to make a difference in the lives of their neighbors from the Bald Eagle Valley to the Moshannon Valley,” Thompson said. “I’m very proud to work with these men and women who belong to these services.”

The MVEMS’ new headquarters and training center has been in the works for more than five years, with the organization having purchased a plot of land in 2020 for the facility to be built at 210 Loch Lomond Road in Rush Township.

Wes Cartwright, the MVEMS’ former chief and current paramedic, told the CDT in 2023 that the new facility would help meet a “critical need” in the Moshannon Valley area, with an estimated 60 EMS personnel around the region being trained there every year.

According to MVEMS Executive Director Frederick Ferguson, emergency personnel from 23 municipalities across Centre, Clearfield and Clinton counties will be trained at the facility. Currently, the training is held at the Moshannon Valley Economic Development Partnership’s Enterprise Center — a space the agency has outgrown.

Originally, the MVEMS applied for a $2.1 million grant early last year for its training center project, which was ultimately approved. But a continuing resolution that was passed last March to keep the government from shutting down halted tens of millions of federal dollars designated for community projects, including the MVEMS’ new facility.

Last May, Ferguson told the CDT that he would resubmit the grant application. And, after speaking with Thompson about it at a dinner, he was confident that the representative would help deliver the funding in the near future — and, now, his prayers have been answered.

“We thank Congressman Thompson for his pivotal assistance in allowing us to receive these monies that will be monumental to the delivery of education in the Centre County and Clearfield County regions, and all of central Pennsylvania actually,” Ferguson said.

He continued, adding that if everything went smoothly with the development process, construction on the new 9,350-square-foot HQ and training facility would begin in spring 2026. It would be completed by late fall or early winter 2026. And it’s projected to hold up to eight ambulances, with about 10 new jobs created and 35 jobs retained.

The Howard Fire Company’s new 18-foot-long jet boat will be two feet longer than the company’s existing boat, and will come with a number of features to help assist with water rescue.

Collin Alterio, the company’s safety officer and team lead for its water rescue team, shared that the new boat will be able to operate in as little as three inches of water, comes with an inflatable side raft to more easily carry passengers or other objects, and will run at 300 horsepower — a significant improvement to the current boat’s 40 horsepower.

“When you need a fast, agile boat to save lives, it’s the only thing that works,” Centre County Commissioner Steve Dershem said. “You’re not going to find any other apparatus that’s going to go out and save lives in swift water or bad situations with flooding, and this is one of those times where you can say that this is money incredibly well spent.”

While the new boat is expected to be purchased in the near future, Alterio doesn’t anticipate on the fire company retiring the existing boat for at least another year.