June 25, 2009

The Catawba County Department of Emergency Services' Fire/Rescue Division recently received a $1000 fire prevention grant from FM Global, a leading property insurer of the world’s largest businesses based in Johnston, Rhode Island.

FM Global representatives recently presented the award to Catawba County Fire Inspector Jason Boggs (seen second from left in the photo, accepting the grant from Kenneth L. Drum of FM Global as Bill Bump, Catawba County Fire Inspector at far left and Mark Pettit, the County Fire and Rescue Manager at far right look on) at the Government Center located in Newton. The award will be used to help fire investigators more efficiently investigate and determine the cause of a fire.

Because fire continues to be the leading cause of commercial and industrial property damage worldwide, FM Global has contributed millions of dollars to fire services and related agencies around the globe working to prevent fire for more than three decades. Locally, the company has awarded grants to a number of North Carolina-based organizations.

“At FM Global, we believe the majority of property damage is preventable—not inevitable—and we are pleased to make funding available to organizations, like the Catawba County Department of Emergency Services, that share the same philosophy,” said Michael Spaziani, manager of FM Global’s Fire Prevention Grant Program. “After all, it’s much better to prevent a disaster than to recover from one.”

FM Global’s highly competitive Fire Prevention Grant Program (www.fmglobal.com/grants) awards grants quarterly 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 greatest impact on preventing, preparing for and controlling fire in the community.

More than one out of every three FORTUNE 1000 companies and similar-sized organizations operating in more than 130 countries works with FM Global to develop property insurance and engineering solutions to protect their business operations from fire, natural disasters and other types of property risk. Established nearly 175 years ago, FM Global ranks #583 among FORTUNE Magazine’s largest companies in America. The company was recently names “Best Property Insurer in the World” by Euromoney magazine and also is rated A+ (Superior) by A.M. Best and AA (Very Strong) by Fitch Ratings.