'Proud to Have Helped Secure' Two Fire Grants. 'Helped' Holds Up: He Voted to Fund the Program, and FEMA Chose the Winners by Score.

Credit-Claiming Source: Facebook Posts (official page) MOSTLY TRUE

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Why this matters

Volunteer and small-city fire departments depend on federal equipment grants, and two in Cattaraugus County got them: the City of Olean, for radios, and Ellicottville, for air packs, according to his posts. In October, Rep. Langworthy said he was “proud to have helped secure” both.

That wording is closer to the record than the “I secured” he has used in other posts, and the record supports it: he voted for the spending laws that funded the program. What the posts leave out is how the winners were chosen, and that the Ellicottville grant’s award period began a year ago.

Statement

Source: Official Facebook page (“Congressman Nick Langworthy”), two video posts, October 2026:

“I’m proud to have helped secure a $70,714 FEMA Federal Emergency Management Agency grant for 15 lifesaving radios for Olean firefighters.”

“I’m proud to have helped secure a $210,000 federal grant that delivered 18 state-of-the-art air packs to the Ellicottville Fire Department.”

Facebook video post from the Congressman Nick Langworthy official page reading I'm proud to have helped secure a $70,714 FEMA grant for 15 lifesaving radios for Olean firefighters

The Olean post on the official page.

Facebook video post from the Congressman Nick Langworthy official page reading I'm proud to have helped secure a $210,000 federal grant that delivered 18 state-of-the-art air packs to the Ellicottville Fire Department

The Ellicottville post on the official page.

Where the money came from

Both are FEMA Assistance to Firefighters Grants (AFG).

OleanEllicottville
RecipientCity of OleanEllicottville Fire District Commission
Amount$70,714$212,992.38
Grant roundFiscal 2025 (per the city’s application authorization; not yet in USAspending)Fiscal 2024
DateAnnounced in his release, September 28, 2026Award period began September 30, 2025 (USAspending)
EquipmentRadiosAir packs (per his post)

Sources: his September 28, 2026 release and a City of Olean Finance Committee agenda (Olean); USAspending.gov award EMW-2024-FG-03322 (Ellicottville).

The amounts match his release (Olean) and USAspending (Ellicottville); “$210,000” rounds the Ellicottville award down. We could not check the posts’ equipment counts (15 radios, 18 air packs) against the award records.

FEMA chose the winners by score. FEMA’s notice for the fiscal 2024 round says all applications are “electronically pre-scored and ranked,” and the top-ranked ones are “scored competitively by no less than three members of a Peer Review Panel” made up of “fire service representatives.” The two scores count equally, and FEMA then reviews the highest-ranked applications before making awards. FEMA’s fiscal 2025 notice also uses pre-scoring and a peer review panel “composed of fire service personnel.” The process FEMA describes gives members of Congress no role in choosing winners.

Olean’s applications were the city’s to make. A June 23, 2026 Olean Finance Committee agenda, the day after FEMA’s application deadline, lists referrals “to authorize the Mayor to submit a Grant Application” to FEMA “under the Fiscal Year 2025 Assistance to Firefighter’s Grant Program,” one “for funding associated with the purchase of a radios” and one for “the purchase of a fire engine.” The agenda does not show when the city submitted either application.

What “helped” rests on

He voted to fund the program both years.

  • The fiscal 2024 round, which paid for Ellicottville’s grant, was funded with $324 million in the Department of Homeland Security Appropriations Act, 2024, part of the spending package enacted as P.L. 118-47 (H.R. 2882). Rep. Langworthy voted yes on the House’s final vote on that package, on March 22, 2024 (286-134).
  • The fiscal 2025 round, which paid for Olean’s radios, was funded by the Full-Year Continuing Appropriations and Extensions Act, 2025, which FEMA’s notice cites as its appropriation authority. He voted yes on that bill on March 11, 2025 (217-213).

His office has helped departments apply. His releases say he hosted FEMA officials for virtual grant-writing seminars for local departments, including one in June 2026.

They were not earmarks. Neither grant appears in his Community Project Funding requests for fiscal years 2024 through 2027, which list City of Olean projects for water and police but no Olean or Ellicottville fire project. He has requested fire projects elsewhere in the district, including a Wendelville Fire Company station (fiscal 2026), Tioga County radios (fiscal 2026) and a Hornell fire truck (fiscal 2027).

In plain language: he voted for the money that funds these grants, and his office has run sessions to help departments apply. The departments wrote the applications, and FEMA scored them, by computer and by fire-service peer review, before making the awards. “Helped secure” is a fair description of his part; “secured” would not have been.

What the posts leave out

The Ellicottville grant’s award period began a year ago. USAspending shows it beginning September 30, 2025, from the fiscal 2024 round. The post does not say when the grant was awarded. His office posted no House press releases between August 29 and November 19, 2025, and none of his releases announced any fiscal 2024 fire grant, so the absence of an announcement for this one says little. None of his House press releases mentions Ellicottville.

Olean also sought authorization to apply for a fire engine. The same June 23 agenda lists that second referral. His September 28 release lists only the $70,714 for Olean, and we found no announced award for a fire engine. FEMA’s notice said selections would be made by September 30, 2026.

Context: Olean has also received other FEMA fire grants. They include a $569,903 staffing (SAFER) grant whose award period began in March 2026 (EMW-2024-FF-00634); a $21,904.76 Assistance to Firefighters grant from the fiscal 2023 round, which he announced on August 21, 2024; and Assistance to Firefighters grants in four straight rounds, 2014 through 2017, before he took office.

The fair reading

  • “Helped secure” is accurate. He voted for the money, and his office has helped departments apply. That is a real, if indirect, role.
  • The wording is closer to the record this time. Compared with “I secured” in other posts (see the 2026 credit-claims roundup), “helped secure” matches what he did.
  • Showing the equipment is not a problem in itself. The post says the grant “delivered” the air packs; highlighting equipment once it is in service is common in members’ announcements.

Questions this raises

  1. Did his office write support letters for either application? We found none; such letters are not usually made public.
  2. Did Olean’s fire-engine application receive an award? As of November 10, 2026, USAspending shows no fiscal 2025 award to the City of Olean under the program, for the radios or the engine; the radio grant is documented only in his release so far.

Sources

Note: This entry documents publicly available information from FEMA, USAspending.gov, the House Clerk, the City of Olean and Rep. Langworthy’s own posts and releases. It makes no claim about motive. Corrections with sources are welcome at [email protected].

Last updated: November 10, 2026 (USAspending rechecked before publication; no change to the findings)