The fire truck grant was one of only 57 grants awarded out of 512 applications that vied for a portion of the $10 million in funds that the state legislature earmarked in 2005 for community projects.
An application was submitted in August with low expectations until a last-minute letter sparked new hopes for officials. Clark County resident Jeff Berry asked if he could help in the process and wrote the governor's office a letter detailing a 2004 tragedy in which a family member died during a house fire in Trapp.
Officials say the letter was key to securing the grant.
The county has struggled recently to maintain all its fire trucks, but the purchase increase's the fire department's fleet to five trucks, and the county is planning to obtain another by year's end through a lease purchase agreement.
Fletcher said his administration has dedicated state funds to improve road safety and make firefighters have the necessary equipment to keep communities safe statewide, including $57 million for the Firefighter Foundation training program, $500,000 for training at Kentucky Community and Technical College and about $10 million in communication equipment improvement projects.
He also explained that he signed House Bill 256 to give more job security to volunteer firefighters.
"This makes it more difficult for employers to lay off volunteer firefighters if they are injured performing their duties and are forced to take a leave of absence," he said.
As the next election cycle begins to gain momentum, Fletcher also took a moment Thursday to highlight some of the accomplishments of his administration since he took office, including economic growth and work to modernize the tax system.
The governor said 104,000 more people working now in Kentucky than when he took office and noted his original campaign promise to create 100,000 new jobs.
"I've been sweating bullets since that time because we hadn't quite gotten there," he said. "But we did over the last few months get to over 100,000, and we've worked very hard to do just that," he said.
Fletcher said the state has brought $9.3 million in economic development funds to Clark County along with $81 million on road improvements by the time next year's projects are finished. He added that his administration earmarked about $2 million for local parks and recreation and about $1.6 million for agriculture.
"All that is to create jobs and opportunities to make our communities more livable and better places to live work and raise a family," he said.
County Judge-Executive John Myers commended the governor for his work on other projects in the past and for signing off more than $33.5 in the state budget this year for local projects.
"That's the largest appropriation that has ever come to Clark County," he said.
He added that Clark County owed its firefighters a debt of gratitude.
"In the middle of the night when the alarms go off and it's cold and its snowing â?¦we know that you are going to be there," he said.
