Sparta Officials looking to purchase fire blankets for distribution to residents.
Mayor Jerry Lowery said the money to buy the fire blankets comes from a grant. TVA donated $7,000 and the city matched it.
“It’s a blanket that you keep near your kitchen,” Lowery said. “If there’s a fire or something, you could take this blanket and throw it over the fire and it’s supposed to extinguish it. And then sometimes it’s a one-time use, but that we hope you never have to use it.”
Lowery said he got the idea for the fire blanket giveaway after the city received positive comments about the distribution of 765 weather radios. The blankets will be given away free.
“We’re right now in the process of looking and trying to find our best deal,” Lowery said. “And hopefully we can give away two or three thousand of these things and get them to the residents of the city of Sparta.”
Lowery said TVA partnered with the city on the weather radio giveaway as well. He said the program targets seniors and shut-ins.
“These past few storms, the past couple of weeks, the people were excited,” Lowery said. “They were saying, ‘you know, our radio worked perfectly, it went well, it warned us of pending danger.’ So, we applied again for this grant with TVA and we got accepted again.”
