Fire departments nationwide are taking full advantage of federal, state and local grant opportunities to improve operations and invest in new technologies.
Panama City Beach
The U.S. Department of Homeland Security and FEMA recently awarded the Panama City Beach Fire Department with an $800,000 grant to help firefighters improve communication during an emergency. The federal funding will be used to purchase more than 160 portable radios and 60 car radios that aim to ensure communication is clear between firefighters.
Other fire departments throughout Bay County will also receive upgraded radios enabling local and state agencies to interact more effectively. Prior to the upgrade, the Panama City Beach Fire Department and other nearby departments could not communicate with each other unless they were all using the same radios.
The new system will enable each radio to be synced to its individual owner. If a firefighter needs assistance, dispatchers can locate the individual and his or her location by tracking the radio. Furthermore, the new radios will provide alerts from first responders to local hospitals when a new patient is on the way, WJHG reported.
Hagerstown
The Hagerstown Fire Department in Maryland also received a grant from the U.S. Department of Homeland Security for new protective gear. The department was awarded $169,000 through the 2014 Assistance to Firefighters Grant program which will be used to purchase up to 65 new suits - each costing around $3,000.
Because the Hagerstown Fire Department has around 100 paid and volunteer firefighters on staff, there will not be enough funding to provide new suits for everyone. Rather, the department conducts annual gear evaluations to determine which suits are in greatest need of being replaced. The average lifespan of for personal protective equipment is 10 years. So if a suit is repairable and less than five or six years old, the department will send it out to be fixed for a fraction of the cost for a new suit, Your 4 State reported.
Troy
A federal grant is also being put to good use in Troy, Alabama, where the fire department received more than $130,000 for a new ambulance-like vehicle. The $136,364 federal grant will cover 90 percent of the vehicle’s cost, while the city of Troy pledged to cover the remaining 10 percent.
The box-type vehicle will be used for emergency medical service calls, as well as provide a back up for the current ambulance services provided. Because Troy utilizes EMS services through its fire department, the new vehicle will enable faster, more efficient responses when emergency call volume is high, Troy Messenger reported.
York County
The state of Virginia recently awarded more than $60,000 in funding to the York County Department of Fire and Life Safety for the purchase of new equipment. Allocated from the Virginia Department of Health’s Office of Emergency Services Rescue Squad Assistance Fund, the money will be put toward new medical equipment for five of the department’s ambulances, such as power loading fastening systems for existing stretcher equipment. Local funding contributed an additional $60,000 for a total of $120,000 in available money, WY Daily reported.