Mississippi Power awards grant money to local emergency management agencies

With severe weather season here, and hurricane season just around the corner, Mississippi Power is helping local emergency agencies prepare.

The Mississippi Power Foundation awarded emergency management agencies in 24 Mississippi counties a $2,500 grant for storm preparedness resources, including equipment, protective gear and communication tools.

“We’re hoping that these grants can help these agencies who do such critical work for communities that they can obtain or maintain the resources that they need to be able to respond safely to emergencies in the counties that they serve,” Mississippi Power spokeswoman Kaila Moran Griffith said.

“We’re gonna be prepared to work alongside them no matter what comes our way each and every day, whether it’s a storm event or just any other type of emergency that may impact our community,” Griffith added.

In Harrison County, the Emergency Management Agency has already made plans for the funding. Emergency Management Director Matt Stratton said the grant will be used for chemical safety preparedness.

“It was a very generous donation by Mississippi Power, and we discussed with the administrator and with the fire chief that we’re gonna be able to utilize that to assist with some safety supplies for chemical preparedness and chemical safety,” Stratton said.

He said hazardous materials are commonly transported and stored throughout our community, so ensuring first responders are prepared is a priority

“Every day around our communities we’ve got chemical materials being transported along highways and railways during production,” Stratton said.

“We wanna make sure our first responders are prepared with supplies and equipment in case they are involved in a response where they have to do a little bit of clean-up or some other sort of operations in which chemicals are present, and making sure we’re keeping our first responders and community members safe,” he said.

Stratton added that they offer a local emergency planning committee that meets a couple of times each year and all community members are welcome.