On Thursday, November 7, 2019, Gary Ryman and Nate Albrecht presented the Williamsport Bureau of Fire with a $3,000 fire prevention grant from FM Global, one of the world’s largest commercial property insurers.

FM Global representatives presented the award to Assistant Chief Mark Killian and Bureau of Fire personnel at Fire Headquarters in the city. This award will be used to purchase iPads for fire apparatus so firefighters can access vital pre-fire plans and response information real time during emergencies. Access to this data during a response to an emergency will increase the departments efficiency and help reduce the risk of fire and other emergencies across Williamsport.

Because fire continues to be the leading cause of property damage worldwide, during the past 40 years FM Global has contributed millions of dollars in fire prevention grants to fire service organizations around the globe. Locally, the company has awarded grants to a number of Pennsylvania-based organizations.

“At FM Global, we strongly believe the majority of property damage is preventable, not inevitable,” said Michael Spaziani, assistant vice president – manager of the fire prevention grant program. “Far too often, inadequate budgets prevent those organizations working to prevent fire from being as proactive as they would like to be. With additional financial support, grant recipients are actively helping to improve property risk in the communities they serve.”

Through its Fire Prevention Grant Program, FM Global awards grants to fire departments—as well as national, state, regional, local and community organizations worldwide—that best demonstrate a need for funding, where dollars can have the most demonstrable impact on preventing fire, or mitigating the damage it can quickly cause.