CITGO Lemont Refinery Awards First Responder Grants To Lemont Agencies

LEMONT, IL — The CITGO Lemont Refinery has announced it will award first responder grants, including to three Lemont agencies, for the second year in a row. The CAER First Responder Grant Program was started in 2021 by the CITGO Community Awareness Emergency Response (CAER) Council, the refinery said.

“We appreciate what our local first responders do for our community, and we are excited to be able to continue this grant program,” Dennis Willig, CITGO Lemont Vice President and General Manager, said in a release.

In Lemont, two grants will be used to replace AEDs at the Lemont Fire Protection District and at Lemont Park District.

A third grant will be used to help fund the search and rescue drone program at the Lemont Emergency Management Agency.

Agencies in Lockport and Romeoville also received grants from the refinery.

The CITGO Lemont Refinery CAER Council was formed back in 2002 to share information and increase understanding and cooperation between CITGO, community leaders, and communities regarding safety, the environment and emergency response, according to CITGO. The council is made up of police, fire, and other community leaders in addition to refinery leadership and meets quarterly to share important information.

CAER has been such a success that the CITGO Corpus Christi Refinery in Texas has started their own CAER group based on Lemont’s model.