Governor Pat Quinn announced on Friday that 90 Illinois communities will benefit from more than $677,000 in federal grants to rural fire protection districts and fire departments. The Volunteer Fire Assistance grant program is a federally-funded program that provides matching funds to aid fire departments in the purchase of new equipment as well as training.

The Volunteer Fire Assistance grant program reimburses 50 percent of the recipients’ costs for providing training and acquiring equipment to assist local firefighters. Grant recipients must make the initial financial outlay for the projects before being reimbursed. The grants announced on Friday are supporting more than $1.3 million in local projects.