RSS Feed
|
|
|
|
||||||||||||||||||||||
|
Local firefightersto breathe easy as FEMA grant allows purchase of 20 new breathing apparatuses Washington and Wilkes County firefighterswill be breathing easier in fires thanks to a FEMA assistance to firefightersgrant that allowed the purchase of 20 new self-contained breathing apparatuses that firefighters will wear while fighting fires. The new Scott Air Pak AP-50 NXG2 breathing gear replaces equipment dating from the early 90s, Fire Chief Alan Poss said. "That's why I worked for so long to get this grant, and the previous grant - we really needed this equipment." The $81,000 grant came from Homeland Security grants to local firedepartments across the country to enhance response capabilities and to more effectively protect the health and safety of the public. Due to the highly competitive nature of the Aid to Firefighters Grants, more than 18,000 applications, totaling close to $2.5 billion in grant requests, were received for FY2006. This is the second successful FEMA grant application Poss has received for the fire department. Two years ago, a FEMA grant paid for air scrubbers for Station 1. The 20 air packs will go on all the engines at Station 1, including the county's Unit 5, and are a marked improvement over the old units. "These are a lot safer than the old units," Poss said. The new units have built-in protection against chemical, biological, radiological, and nuclear hazards to protect the firefightersin hazmat situations. The breathing units are also equipped with dual emergencybreathing line so that a firefightercan share his air and buddy-breathe with a victim or fellow firefighterbeing rescued. The Scott AirPaks were purchased from Anderson Fire and Safety, and representative Brad Eavenson was on hand to work with firefightersgetting the units set up initially. The Scott brand, Poss said, is a long-time leader in the field. "All the big cities do wear tests on fireequipment, and Scott equipment always surpasses their standards," he said. "Before we made this purchase, we studied and contacted departments that had tested these units."
Nationally, the AFG awards, which will be distributed in phases, will ultimately provide approximately $485 million to roughly 4,500 fire-related organizations.
|
for larger version       |
|||||||||||||||||||||
